Powerless
by robbiepoo2341
Summary: It's hard to be a human in the X-Men. Kate Bishop has already learned that lesson a hundred times over, but now, it's time for the hundred and first lesson, apparently. And Scott Summers' little boy is about to find out the hard way that he's in the same boat. But even the heroes who do have powers ... tend to hate them. It's a hard knock life for the X-Men.
1. Sying the Pirate

**Y'all, this is literally the 24th volume of this series. You gotta check my profile for the reading order, or you gon' be LOST.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: "Sying the Pirate"**

* * *

The second semester in LA had been easier than the first. But now that it was over and they'd had their first full year at the new school, Jubilee and Noh were ready for a vacation — and for an anniversary trip.

The next year would be ten years, and they were planning a big space trip, but for now, they figured hitting up the best beaches would be a good idea. But when Noh pointed out that they were approaching the same summer in which another timeline's Maria Hill had kidnapped their little boy during an island getaway at the end of the school year… well, they decided to switch to a trip to Europe instead, a cruise around the Mediterranean while Noh marveled at all of the art and architecture wherever they stopped.

Melody and Celeste were with their grandparents — Logan and K — though Sying had come on the cruise. He was old enough at six — and bigger than the usual six-year-old because of Kree genetics. And besides, Noh had to admit that he was keeping a little closer eye on Sying that summer anyway, even with Maria Hill long ago handed over to Hala for Kree justice.

Sying leaned over the side of the boat as the ship came in to the port in Greece, grinning widely. "We should live on a boat," he decided. "I like the ocean."

"We already have a ship," Noh pointed out with a smile. "And you and the others in Westchester have your own as well."

"Those are kid ships," Sying said, wrinkling his nose. "And I wanna live on the ocean, not space!"

Jubilee chuckled and kissed Noh's cheek. "He's got you there."

Noh let out a sigh of a laugh as he kissed Jubilee right back and then turned to the little boy. "And why do you want to live on the ocean?"

"Because I like it," Sying said, leaning further over the side until Jubilee had to pull him back so he wouldn't go _over _the side — not that he'd fall in, since he was a wallcrawler, but still. "I wanna learn how to sail."

"I'm sure you can find someone to teach you," Noh said with a little smirk.

"Okay," Sying said happily, leaning back into the ship as Jubilee shook her head.

"I blame Kurt," she whispered to Noh.

"How?" he teased her gently. "He's in Westchester."

"Yes, but his darling daughter, who holds Sying's heart, has his _brain _clearly addled."

Noh shrugged lightly. "Did you not want to be a pirate when you were a child?" he teased.

"No, of course not," she scoffed. "I was going to be an Olympic gymnast."

"Well, you have always reached for the highest stars," he said, then leaned in with a little smile. "When I had been serving the Empire for only a few years, I wanted to be a space-based smuggler. We busted up a few of those groups, and they always had the most _fascinating _things in their holds."

"Well, I would have looked way cuter in my red, white, and blue spandex."

"True," he said with a growing smile. "But you would have a horrible advantage, my Jubilee. Who could score you when you are so dazzling they cannot see anything else?"

"Hey, life is not always fair," she said with a toss of her hair.

"True." He leaned down to kiss her neck. "You would look marvelous. Perhaps we should investigate this."

"Which part?" she grinned.

"Well, if you wish to see me in smugglers' clothing, I can always speak to Peter Quill," he teased.

"Frumpy is not your look," she replied. "And not at all an equal trade-off if I'm going all … gymnast."

"Then what would you prefer?" he asked, still grinning into her hair.

"You'll have to come up with something," she said with a sigh.

"I simply don't know what I could do that I haven't done already," he teased. "When I first arrived on this planet, I've since been informed, the short-shorts were … short," he added with a little impish grin.

"You were lied to."

"We'll see," he teased as he started to kiss her, and Sying just rolled his eyes at his parents and made himself at home trying to spot any fish in the ocean as the cruise ship came to a stop at the port.

Once they were at the port, Sying pulled on Noh's hand, ready to get ashore to start exploring, and Noh laughed lightly as he kissed Jubilee's cheek. "Do you mind if we go ahead?" he asked.

"Have fun," she laughed. "I'll catch up."

"Thanks, Mom!" Sying sang out, taking off running as fast as he could — which wasn't quite as fast as Noh but was still enough that only he or one of the speedsters or teleporters could keep up with him.

"See you in a little while," Noh laughed, kissing Jubilee one more time before he took off after the speedy little boy to keep him from getting too far ahead.

Jubilee shook her head at the two of them and let out a breath. It had been ages since she'd gotten five minutes to herself, let alone five minutes in a tropical locale all alone. She couldn't help but smile to herself and rearrange her sunglasses as she simply started walking in the general direction that Noh and Sying had disappeared.

She headed off down the dusty streets, taking in all of the tourist shops lining the path, and then turned to head off into the _real_ areas of the city, ignoring most of the people around her, since their thoughts were in a language she did not speak.

But even off the beaten path, she could easily catch the tone of their thoughts, and from time to time, an English speaker was clear. And it was one of those English speakers that caught her attention, loudly projecting his panic at the massive, blond man following her. She clenched her fists and drew in a breath, ready to attack — when the man dropped a single, heavy hand on her shoulder.

"Try not to do anything that'll have me makin' a mess now, pup," Creed said in an easy, relaxed tone. "You're an awful long way from the safety of the X-Men's apron strings, don'tcha think?"

Jubilee shrugged against his hand and sidestepped with a glare, little sparks at the edges of her fingernails. "Back off."

"Relax, girlie, just passin' on a message," he said with a little laugh before he reached into his jacket and produced an envelope. "Make sure that gets to tha Runt. I'll _know _if ya throw it overboard." He simply held it out, keeping his gaze locked onto her until she took the envelope — and then he quite simply disappeared into the crowd.

She glared in the direction that he'd disappeared before she turned her attention to the envelope in her hands, turning it over a few times. "What the heck kinda message do you have to come and screw with _my anniversary _for?" she grumbled, mostly to herself, as she tore the corner of the envelope open and then pulled out the slip of paper inside — which just had a single smiley face drawn on it in crude writing.

"Oh yeah," she muttered to herself. "Definitely something worth not throwing overboard."

When she caught up with her boys again, they were already at one of the museums, with Sying excitedly bouncing to each new exhibit with the unbridled enthusiasm of a six-year-old boy while Noh looked on and read each plaque to answer his questions.

Noh looked up when Jubilee came in and smiled to wave her over. "We should do trips like this more often," he said. "I'm learning much about your world's history, and so is Sying. And he has a mind like a steel trap — that's the expression, yes?"

"It is, nice catch," she agreed almost businesslike as she nodded her head once.

He raised an eyebrow at her tone before he snagged her around the waist and pulled her in. "My Jubilee," he said quietly, "what has changed your mood in the few minutes we've been separated?"

"Oh, it's nothing," she said with a little wave. "Just saw a very ugly dude. He's gone now."

"Did he offend you?" Noh asked as he kissed her forehead.

She giggled and then popped up on her toes to kiss him properly. "Don't do that. You'll get worry lines."

He grinned at her. "Nonsense. If I ever wrinkle, it will be at the corners of my eyes since you came into my life to brighten it."

She grinned and gave him another kiss. "Let's keep it that way."

He kissed the tip of her nose. "And this ugly, offensive person… you scared him off, didn't you?" he teased.

"Didn't need to," she said with shrug. "Left on his own."

"Well that's a change," Noh said softly. "Usually, he needs more prompting than that. Which, if he returns, I am happy to supply," he added. "It _is _our anniversary."

Jubilee shook her head, but before she could tell him to just leave it alone — since she wanted to have her anniversary — she spotted Sying and had to let out a little laugh when she realized that he had managed to find the section of the museum dedicated entirely to ancient sailing crafts and was pouring over the whole place like it was his mission in life.

"Oh, that's it," Jubilee said, pulling her phone out and quickly calling Kurt. "I need you to come quickly. And bring Tyler." She was brisk in her request and didn't even bother saying hello.

"What's wrong?" Kurt asked. "Are you hurt?"

"Emotionally, yes. But that's not what the deal is here?" She let out a sigh, knowing he'd be mad once she led him through it. "I need a young priest and an old priest."

There was a slight pause before Kurt let out a noise that was clearly unamused. "I am not _old_, Jubilee. And I'm not a priest any longer either."

"Yes, but you know how to get rid of demons. You've done it before. And clearly, my baby boy is possessed. He is up a _mast, herr Wagner. _This is unacceptable. Don't they have vaccinations for pirates that keep down the spread of scurvy or something?"

Kurt let out another noise, this one distinctly more disbelieving. "Who would _want _to be anything but a pirate?"

"Um. Anyone not from the 1500's? Obviously? So get your dusty butt over here and fix this."

"Well, where are you?"

"We're in Greece — is that close enough of a direction?"

He laughed. "I can just trace your comm. I'll be there in a few minutes," he promised before he hung up — and a few moments later, he appeared with a wide grin… and a feathered hat that was the perfect size for Sying.

"I'm here to address the problem," he said, the grin threatening to split his face.

Jubilee burst into laughter at that and waved him over. "You are a terribly wonderful influence," she giggled. "And I have something for you to take home."

"Nothing scurvy-related?" he teased as he handed the hat to a grinning and excited Sying, who immediately tried it on and started _delightedly _laughing at how well it fit.

"Well, that is a pirate problem, but I am not guaranteeing any clean bill of health on this," Jubilee said as she produced the envelope she'd shoved in her back pocket.

Kurt frowned as he took it from her — and then frowned deeper when he saw not only Logan's name on the envelope but the smiley-face message inside that was familiar to him. "Where did you get this?"

She gestured over her shoulder. "Ugliest delivery boy you ever saw followed me for a little while through the shops on the way here."

"He didn't hurt you?" Kurt asked, concerned now as he looked her over more carefully.

"Not a bit," she swore. "Just told me to deliver it and that he'd know if I trashed it."

"Then he's watching…" Kurt glanced around the museum but didn't see anything, frowned, and teleported a few times to see if he could find the big, ugly problem. But naturally, Creed was nowhere to be seen. When Kurt teleported in front of Jubilee, it was with a solid little glare. "Don't let Noh or Sying out of your sight."

"I know," she replied. "What do _you _know, though?"

He sighed. "I know that K and Logan haven't found what they want and that it's been long enough that it wouldn't surprise me if Sabretooth was getting bored."

She frowned at that. "Getting bored or trying to rile Logan?"

"Those two things tend to happen in concert," Kurt said, shaking his head, his tail still behind him as he pocketed the envelope.

"We'll be careful," Jubilee promised.

"Please do," Kurt said, leaning down to kiss her cheek. "And bring Sying by when you get back to the States," he added. "I'm sure Krissy wouldn't mind fighting a few pirates with him."

"Oh, he's already got presents for all the 'best' kids there," she promised. "And I think even for as much as he's enjoying this trip, he's a little jealous that the girls got to spend time in New York without him."

"Well, I'm sure he'll be enrolled at the school before he knows it," Kurt said with a small smile. "And then the girls will be jealous of _him_."

"True," she conceded before she gave him a quick kiss. "Thank you, sweet Elf."

"Anytime," he said with a smile and a deep bow before he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

* * *

When Jubilee and Noh did get in to Westchester to spend a couple of weeks so that Sying could be with his friends, Sying was wearing his feathered pirate hat and bouncing in place excitedly until he spotted Kurt and rushed over to give him a huge hug.

"I like my hat!" he declared happily, and Kurt scooped up the little guy, setting him on his hip as he grinned and tugged on the rim of it. "I'm a pirate!"

"You certainly are," Kurt agreed, grinning widely not just at the little half-Kree but over the top of his head at Jubilee as she came in with Noh. "You're the most handsome pirate I've seen all day."

Jubilee shook her head and mouthed the word 'enabler' Kurt's way as Sying giggled delighted. "Thank you! Thank you for the hat, too! It looks really, really cool."

"Of course it does," Kurt said with a steadily widening grin. "What say we try it out? A hat this grand needs an ocean and a ship, don't you think?"

"Uh-huh!" Sying said, nodding excitedly. "I just got off a big ship with my hat, but maybe… maybe we can go sailing?"

"Of course we can," Kurt promised.

"Can Krissy play too?" Sying asked, which had Noh not hiding a snorted-out laugh very well at all.

"Of course," Kurt said, grinning as he teleported off with Sying still on his hip to reappear where Krissy was busily coloring with Kari in her Disney princess book.

"Hi, Krissy!" Sying called out, adjusting his hat over his eyes so that it was sitting just right.

"Hi, Sying!" Krissy called back, hardly looking up from her coloring — before she did almost a double-take when she saw his hat. "Oooh, where did you get _that_?"

"Your _dad_," he said, grinning widely at her reaction. "Do you like it?"

"I want one!" she declared, and Kurt just laughed.

"Would you like to come sailing with us, _Prinzessin_?" he asked her, and she burst into laughter as she rushed over to the two of them.

"Oh yes, please, oh please!" she said, bouncing in place with her eyes as big as she could get them.

Kurt laughed, and in an instant, the three of them were gone again, this time to the Danger Room, where he wasted no time in setting up a pirate adventure — age-appropriate — for the three of them, starting them out by just sailing on the open sea. He swept up the hats that materialized at his feet for Krissy and himself and handed Krissy hers with a bow.

She grinned delightedly as she shoved it onto her head. "Now we match!" she declared.

"Yeah, we do!" Sying agreed, leaning over the edge of the boat to look at the water with a grin. "Where are we sailing?"

"The English Channel," Kurt said with a little smile. "A few hundred years ago, it was positively brimming with pirates — paid by Her Majesty herself."

"Pirate princesses?" Krissy asked, perking up.

Kurt laughed. "Not like you, _liebling_."

"Well, yeah. Nobody ever saw a Princess Pirate Elfling before," Sying pointed out as he trailed his hand in the water. He grinned up at Kurt. "I never heard that story. I gotta ask my dad to put that in our history lessons on the _Marvel_."

"Well, I'm sure in the history of several planets, things get lost," Kurt said with a smirk. "But there are excellent pirate stories… I know a few from the South China Sea…"

"I wanna learn those too!"

"Me too!" Krissy piped up.

"Then I'll find a few stories for you both," he promised before he turned his attention to teaching the two of them how to sail, explaining the different elements of the ship… though that quickly turned into climbing in the rigging and just enjoying the sea breeze.

"You three look like you're having just _way _too much fun," Kate called out as she and one of the bamfs — who was wearing a pirate hat of his own — teleported into the Danger Room.

"No such thing," Kurt laughed, teleporting over to her to kiss her before he gestured to the two pirates. "We've been learning to sail."

"I see that," Kate said, reaching up to snag Krissy out of the rigging and pull her into a little kiss — and she got a "m-a-a-a-a-ama" for her troubles.

"We're being pirates!" Krissy explained.

"Have you fought any bad guys?" Kate asked with a little smile.

"No," Krissy said, shaking her head.

"Well." Kate crouched down to be at Krissy's level. "Do you think you could show Sying what you've been learning this summer if I set up some bad guys for you?"

Krissy nodded, suddenly serious, and Kate and her bamf disappeared again an instant before a little Krissy-sized bow appeared on the ship and some stationary pirates on a nearby ship materialized nearby.

"Ooooh." Sying looked wide-eyed as he rushed over to where Krissy was. "Are you gonna be a Hawkeye?"

"_And _a pirate," she agreed. "I can be both!"

"You can, for sure," Sying agreed quickly.

Krissy grinned at him as she picked up her bow, which was the same shade of purple as she was, and Kate reappeared to gently help her set her sights before she stepped back to let her little girl show off.

She was no Hawkeye — yet — but after a half dozen or so practice shots, she finally hit one of the bad guys squarely, and she turned to Sying excitedly when the pirate disappeared at the shot. "Did you see that?" she asked, beaming delightedly.

"Yeah, I saw that!" Sying said, nodding with a steadily widening grin.

"I'm gonna get really, really good at it," Krissy told him. "And Papa said he could teach me swords. Not like Chance and Elin swords. _Pirate _swords!"

"Those are good swords to learn," Sying agreed with a little laugh.

"I'm gonna be the best pirate Hawkeye ever," Krissy said.

"Well, you already got the purple," Sying reasoned. "You gonna wear blue all the time?"

"Maybe," Krissy said, shrugging both shoulders up high. "I dunno. Papa says I got lots of time before I have to think about it anyway. This is just for fun."

"You're gonna be a really pretty X-Man someday," Sying said, turning slightly pink, though Kate seemed delighted and Kurt just let out a sigh that said he had resigned himself to the flirting at this point — while they were still young enough that it didn't make much of a difference.

Krissy didn't seem to notice the flirting, though, perfectly intent on showing off her skill with a bow, which at least was a relief to Kurt, who couldn't help but laugh as he recognized the same look of intensity that Kate always had when she was setting up her own shots.

Krissy showed off a little more before her arms started to get tired — she was still young and getting used to it — and from there, the little group went back to sailing on the ocean together.


	2. How (Not) to Ask a Hawkeye

**Chapter 2: "How (Not) to Ask a Hawkeye"**

Kate had taken to wearing the dress she'd taken to the Hellfire Club party whenever she went somewhere on business when she wanted to look more intimidating and impressive than the skinny, early 30's young woman who smiled too much would usually look.

She wanted to acquire a smaller movie firm to expand that line of her production since _The Response Division _had propelled Bishop Publishing into awards shows and box office successes — not that Kamala hadn't already done that, but that one was controversial enough that its success had people taking notice.

Of course, now that it had been a year since the movie release for _The Response Division_, there were fewer death threats — though they hadn't entirely disappeared, and she doubted that they ever would. But she still had a comm on her and a bamf waiting in the sidelines, hidden from sight but ready in case there was trouble.

The deal wasn't finalized until dessert, but at last, Kate was sure she had a solid deal, and she reached over to shake the movie executive's hand with a polite smile. "I'll have my office send you details in writing of everything we've hammered out here," she promised.

"I'll want to read it over personally," he agreed.

"Of course." She nodded and motioned the waiter over for the check. "I really don't want to change too much. Your movies are good; you just need a little more production value."

"Money," he corrected her.

"Well, yes," Kate said with a sigh. Not everyone that she dealt with could be as excitable and wonderful as Kamala, but it would sure be nice if they were.

They parted ways amicably, and Kate relaxed once the executive headed in the opposite direction toward where he had parked. That was the thing about doing business - personality was only a deal-breaker for some things. Other times, she had to do business with people with _no senses of humor _and no real … well. Personality.

Oh well. She had the studio she wanted, and they'd have the funding they needed to make better movies. Everyone won out in the end, and Bishop Publishing was just getting bigger, putting its mark on movies as well as books.

She was ready to go home so she could spend her weekend with her kids and Kurt — and especially with Krissy, who was taking to the bow just like Kate had hoped she would. So when she passed an open door and someone stepped into her path and startled her, she admittedly acted a little brashly and twisted into a solid kick that knocked him several feet backwards. Though… she wasn't entirely sorry when she saw who it was.

"You made me tear my dress!" she complained to Wesley as she looked over the damage of her gorgeous purple ensemble.

He glanced down at his suit, which definitely looked worse for wear, before he straightened out his jacket and tried to squash down the irritated look. "It wasn't my intention, Mrs. Wagner. I apologize for startling you."

"Hasn't anyone ever told you not to sneak up on a trained fighter? That's a total reflex," Kate said, shaking her head as she glanced around to see if any more of Fisk's men were around.

"As I said, apologies." He took a few steps forward. "Are you hurt?"

She shook her head. "Of course not. That's the whole point of the kick? Self-defense?" She waved her hand at Wesley. "We need to put a bell on you."

"If a trained fighter needs that kind of a warning system …"

"If a person wants to avoid being kicked into next week…."

He smirked lightly. "I appreciate that you're a busy woman, and my employer would like a word, but I understand your schedule can be a bit harder to work around than a conventional business model." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a business card. "I do hope two weeks is enough time to get your notification for this event?"

"Barring some kind of invasion, usually," Kate muttered as she plucked the business card from his hand. "I'm bringing a plus one."

"Of course," he said with a nod. "Though the meeting itself has no security allowed in the room. For anyone. It's a delicate balance."

"I'd only agree to that if that means you aren't there either," Kate said.

"I won't be," he admitted. "At least not in the meeting hall."

"Meeting hall?" Kate repeated with one eyebrow raised.

"You'll see in two weeks," he replied with a little bow before he turned around and walked away.

Kate watched after him for a moment, her lips pursed together, before she glanced down at the invitation in her hand. "I… am going to need a really good plus one," she decided as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and her little bamf buddy appeared on her shoulder. "What do you think?" she asked, holding the envelope up to him. He examined it for a moment and then pulled a face, and she laughed and nodded along. "Yeah, me too."

The bamf chattered at her for a moment before she let out a breath. "Alright. Yeah. Let's run it by K first. You're right; there could be something nasty, but with Fisk, I kind of doubt it. Not quite his style to have Wesley deliver it in broad daylight, but... " The bamf chattered. "Yes, these are the same people who blew me up, but there's an etiquette to—"

He took her face in both of his hands.

"Alright. No assumptions. I got it. I know what it makes of you and me. Watch your language around the kids, would you? They pick things up."

The little guy just cut her a very dry look at that before he teleported both of them to the mansion in Westchester, straight to K's barn, which just had Kate letting out a long, _long _sigh.

"I can never wear this dress again," she said as she brushed hay off of it from where they'd landed.

"Not unless you're going for barn-door chic," K said from the other side of the barn. "Odd clothes to muck stalls …."

"I told him I wanted to run this by you, so he took me to you," Kate explained, waving the invitation in her hand. "The dress is already torn anyway. I had to kick an idiot in the chest."

"It died in the line of combat then," K sighed as she set her pitchfork back against the wall and strode over to her. "What are you concerned with today, Mrs. Wagner?"

"Fisk's errand boy gave me another invitation, and I swear to you, K, if it's the Hellfire Club again, I'm going to bring you with me and you can tell your stepson to pull his head out yourself," Kate said, shaking her head.

"Well that … has not helped him yet? But I can take a look and see what's going on." She took the envelope and very carefully took a sniff before she frowned and opened it up. "Nothing but overly expensive ink, linen paper … and a very ugly group that is _not _the Hellfire Club. I guess I'm off evil stepmother duty."

Kate held her hand out for the invitation. "Not Hellfire, but…?" She narrowed her eyes when she saw that the 'Board' was formally inviting her to their event. "No," she said flatly before she simply tore the invitation in half. "Nope. Not happening."

K smirked. "Now that the little matter of creeps is settled … the kids wanted a campfire tonight. Unless that's not highbrow enough for you."

"If you give me, like, half an hour to change out of this? I could _so _go for s'mores right now," Kate agreed quickly.

"We're going to get creative with the s'mores," K informed her. "I decided that we need to see what happens when Chance has one that uses a peanut butter cup instead of just chocolate."

Kate laughed out loud at that. "I can tell you that," she pointed out. "He'll get chocolate and peanut butter everywhere — and so will your daughter."

"Oops," K said with a little shrug.

"You're ruining Logan's hopes that they will ever get over it, you know."

"And Scott's … don't forget that. It's a double whammy. And if nothing else, I know I can count on our little bamf friends to take lots of pictures to embarrass them with later if they _do_ finally get over each other."

"Well," Kate said thoughtfully, "it's not like the Flirtiest Summers has many options right now anyway, since they're all homeschooled until Big and Ugly and the Monster-in-Law stop trying to kidnap 'em."

"Yes, I'm sure Chance's options will open up dramatically after that, though I doubt that Elin will want to go back."

"Krissy doesn't want to go back either," Kate admitted with a sigh. "Not everyone can get over the fact that she's purple, and kids can be cruel."

"Well, I'm sure we'll figure it out," K replied with her hands on her hips.

"How are things on that front anyway?" Kate asked curiously.

"The Victor side of life?" she asked. "I … have a few leads on what I think are properties he owns, but I'll need to go check them out in person to see if he's been there recently."

"Take a couple bamfs," Kate said, raising an eyebrow. "Just in case he _is _there."

"Do you really think that Scott doesn't have them working narc for him?" K asked. "He followed me to the tack store."

"That… sounds like him? But it also sounds like the bamfs," Kate said with a slowly growing smile. "Sending him after you for mundane tasks... "

"They share. A brain."

"With Kurt. The drama teacher."

"And overprotective Logan."

"Well, he does let them drink his beer."

"He's like that."

Kate tipped her head to the bamf on her shoulder. "Yes, well, this one was the one to point out I shouldn't open anything Fisk sent. They're pretty smart, even if they're overly cautious."

"They're well-trained," K said. "By overprotective men."

Kate laughed outright. "Which is impressive in itself when you consider they were impossible to deal with about ten years ago."

"They've been attached to you for that long; of course they're protective."

"Well, yeah. This one kissed me before Kurt did," Kate laughed, reaching over to ruffle the bamf's hair and kiss the top of his head. "C'mon, you little flirt. Let's change into something camping-worthy," she told the little guy before they both disappeared in a poof of blue.

* * *

As promised, the kids gathered outside for a backyard camping adventure — at least everyone who was old enough to sleep outside.

Since it was still summertime and there was no school, Sying was with the group too, and he seemed to think that the chance to play with his friends _even longer _was the best idea in the world as he watched K put out the s'mores materials.

"Grammy K, you're doing it wrong," he told her with a little frown when he saw the peanut butter cups. "There's only three pieces to s'mores."

"Well, I'm changing them a little bit," she told him with a little smirk. "Switch out the chocolate for a peanut butter cup. I promise it'll be good. Even your mom will love it."

"Mom likes most things with sugar," he pointed out, watching her with his head tipped to the side. "Does Elin like them?"

"She likes s'mores," K said, nodding. "But only if the marshmallows are done over a fire. Not like how your mom likes to do this in a microwave."

"Mom says it's faster," Sying said. He leaned forward with a little smile. "She's impatient."

"They're not worth eating either," Logan added from the other side of K.

"Well, she's really slow at other things," Sying said diplomatically. "Not like me and Dad."

"She only likes the microwave because she doesn't have the patience to roast the marshmallows without burning them," Logan told Sying.

"Yeah. She doesn't like to wait for things," Sying giggled. "Me neither," he added in a conspiratory whisper as he leaned forward.

"Then it's a good thing both of us know how to do it _right_," K said. "Because we'll share ours."

"You'll share?" Chance asked, poking his head into the conversation from where he had been searching for a four-leaf clover with Cody and teaching him the best searching techniques — which mostly involved _not _going back to the same patch over and over again, Cody. "Can I have one?"

"Sure," K replied. "Peanut butter cup or regular chocolate?"

He closed one eye as he considered his options. "Peanut butter cup," he decided. "I've never had one of _those_."

She smirked at him, and as soon as the first marshmallow was roasted right, she put it together and handed it to him on a paper plate. "Be sure to share, now."

He grinned at that and took a big bite of the s'more to try it out for himself, his eyes widening with delight before he grinned at K, all chocolate and marshmallow. "This is amazing!" he declared before he all but ran over to Elin to ask her, "Have you had this? Because you _should_."

Elin giggled at him and shook her head as Logan gave K the driest look that Kate had ever seen from him — which really only got Logan a long, chocolate infused kiss from his wife.

Chance held out the remains of his s'more. "Your mom and dad are making more," he said. "You can have some of mine and decide if you like it first."

"Only if you'll split my other one with me," Elin told him.

"Sure," he agreed quickly. "If you don't like this, we can share a non-peanut butter one. I like 'em both!"

"Isn't that precious," K said, settling back into Logan's chest. "You're up, Kate … your tiny elf needs something."

Kate was clearly grinning at the Elin and Chance show as she herded Krissy and Charlie over from playing freeze tag with the bamfs. Of course, once Krissy realized that sugar was involved, she outpaced Charlie easily, and Sying waved her over. "You gotta try the peanut butter stuff!" he told her through a mouthful of said peanut butter stuff.

"Can I have one, _bitte_?" Krissy asked politely as Charlie finally caught up to her and wrinkled her nose.

"I don't like peanut butter," she said.

"We have all kinds of chocolate," K told them. "Pick what you like. I have some with caramel in the middle of the chocolate too."

"I just want a normal one," Charlie said, shaking her head.

"You got it, kiddo," K told her, assembling the next one and handing it to her with a little smirk. "If you'd rather have burnt marshmallows, go talk to Kate for help. Or Jubilee."

"No thank you," Charlie giggled. "I just like normal ones. No burning, no peanut butter."

"She's _boring_," Chance lamented, tipping his head back dramatically; he had a good amount of peanut butter still on the corner of his mouth that he hadn't noticed.

"You're just dramatic," Krissy teased him, and he stuck his tongue out at her.

"She's smart," K said. "And no drama needed to get a perfect s'more, right, Charlie?"

Charlie nodded happily. "Just gotta do it right," she agreed.

"Doing it right has peanut butter," Chance said happily as Elin came back with her s'more to share and he grinned brilliantly at her.

"What about you, Dread Pirate Muffin?" K called out Kurt's way. "What are you going for?"

Kurt just chuckled, perfectly content to watch the show, though he leaned past Kate to look at K. "I think I'd be remiss if I didn't try the 'peanut butter stuff'," he teased.

"All the boys seem to love it," she said before she glanced over her shoulder at Logan. "Well…. Most of them."

"Perhaps if you weren't using it to let his firstborn get so close to Chance," Kurt teased.

"If you think this is the first time that I've fed my sweetheart peanut butter s'mores, then you are sadly mistaken."

Kurt chuckled and shook his head as Kate leaned past him, sticking her head underneath him. "Two please," she said, holding out two fingers to grin at K. "I want one too. To share."

"On the way — or do you want to burn and build your own?"

"Already did. I thought I'd try the 'right' way for round two," Kate teased.

"You really should," K agreed as the two ferals built up the first one for Kate.

"They're really yummy," Krissy told her parents with a little giggle and a swish of her tail as she tried to rub the marshmallow out of her fur.

"Just under your nose," Chance called out helpfully, and she grinned and flashed him a thumbs up as she wiped at her fur.

K and Logan finished making up the peanut butter s'mores for the Wagners — and of course, once they had those, marshmallowy kisses weren't far behind. Which was how Scott found the group when he came down to check on everyone: the adults kissing and the kids spread out catching fireflies.

"You missed the peanut butter s'mores, Dad," Chance told him when he saw Scott, rushing over with wide eyes.

"He can make his own," Logan muttered, though he did not offer to help since he was previously occupied.

"But you make really good ones," Chance pointed out, though Scott was already shaking his head.

"It's alright; I'll make my own," he said as he followed Chance.

"You should bring Mom," Charlie said. "All the grownups are kissing, and you should kiss Mom all the time. That's what she thinks."

"Your mom is putting Chloe to sleep," Scott said, shaking his head at her.

"O-kay, but she really likes it when you kiss her," Charlie said with one eye closed.

Scott couldn't help but smirk as he shook his head. "Yes, I know."

"Why don't you bring a s'more up to her?" Kurt suggested.

"Ooh, yes," Charlie agreed, nodding fervently.

Faced with Charlie's determination and Kurt's smirk, Scott could only sigh and shake his head. "I'll make two, then," he said.

"Make one with a peanut butter cup!" Chance called out. "They're _awesome._"

Scott smiled Chance's way at that. "Yeah, I heard," he said with a little nod. "And I can see. You've still got some on your chin, bud."

"Oh. Hey-y-y-y, Krissy, you're supposed to return the favor. I helped with your fur!" Chance said, his whole face scrunched up as Krissy just giggled at him while Scott did a bit of a double-take.

"Well, my fur is sticky and harder to wipe off," Krissy pointed out, not looking sorry in the least. "And Elin coulda told you about the peanut butter. She's closer."

"You need a bubble bath," Elin suggested to Chance with a crooked sort of smile.

"But we're playing outside," Chance pointed out. "And you and me were gonna catch fireflies!"

"Okay, fine," Elin said before she marched up to Chance and helped him wipe off the smear of chocolate and peanut butter as he held very still. When she was done, she tossed the napkin into the fire and smiled up at him. "All better."

"You coulda just _told him_ where it was like he told Krissy," Sying teased, grinning widely.

Elin rolled her eyes at him. "It was easier to just help him."

"Okay," Sying said, still grinning. "If you _say _so."

"I _do_," Elin replied with one eyebrow raised. "Next time _you _have a smudge, I'll just let you try to find it yourself."

"Yeah but you don't wanna kiss _me_. That's _gross_," Sying said, wrinkling up his whole face and sticking out his tongue for good measure to show just how gross it was.

She scrunched up her nose at him. "What's kissin' got to do with it?" Elin asked before she shook her head and turned to catch her fireflies.

"She doesn't get it," Sying lamented, resting his chin on K's arm. "I've seen lots of movies, and you always gotta touch faces before you kiss."

"Movies aren't the best way to learn things like that," K told him, then paused for a moment. "Who's face do you want to touch, my sugary little maple leaf?"

He picked his head up, glanced both ways, and then halfway climbed up her arm so he could whisper low, "Krissy," and then blushed furiously.

"Well, go on," Logan said with a smirk. "See if it works."

"She's gonna say no," Sying said with a heavy sigh.

"Doesn't mean she'll _always _say no," he pointed out.

"No," Sying said, resting his chin on K's arm again.

Logan leaned around K to whisper for Sying. "I won't tell you how many times I had to ask K to marry me before she finally said yes. Don't be afraid to _try._"

Sying looked surprised as he glanced between Logan and K. "But you love Grampa Wolvie!" he said, sounding almost betrayed. "Why'd you say _no_?"

K rolled her eyes at Logan, then smirked before she leaned closer to Sying. "Maybe I just liked hearing him ask."

"Well if that's how Krissy is, she must like it a _lot, _because I don't think she's ever ever gonna say yes if I wanna kiss her." Sying let out a frustrated breath. "I really wanna kiss her. Dad says it's 'cause I'm almost seven and I'm getting big."

"It's because you're just as lovestruck as your mother is," Logan told him.

"Yeah, she kisses my dad a _lot_," Sying agreed. "Forge and Amadi let me look through blueprints with them when Mom and Dad were dancing."

"That's good," K said, smirking a little wider at him. "So … what are you going to do, kiddo?"

"Well, I've been reading pirate books and watching pirate movies, and Krissy's dad got me a pirate hat," Sying listed off, counting them on his fingers. "We play pirates a lot. Krissy's dad is teaching us how to sail. That's pretty cool, right?"

"One way to find out," Logan said.

Sying turned bright pink. "I don't… think… that's a good idea," he said with a frown.

"I thought you were brave?"

Sying stuck his chin out. "I am!" he insisted, then paused. "It's just... "

"Are you afraid of elves?"

"_No_," Sying insisted, shaking his head. "No, I'm not _scared_."

"Maybe he doesn't like her as much as he thinks," K said quietly — knowing only Logan and Sying would hear her. "Or he's not old enough yet. That's probably what it is. Let him grow up."

"I'm grown up!" Sying said, his hands on his hips and looking more and more like his mother. "I'm more grown up than Krissy 'cause I'm a speedy grower like my _dad_. I'm _plenty _grown up!"

The two ferals shared a look and then pointedly let it drop as Logan pulled K a little closer. "Okay."

Sying thrust his chin out at both of them before he climbed down from being curled up with K and headed Krissy's way, though both Howletts had to chuckle when they saw that the closer he got the slower he was and the less confidently he was strutting — and he'd started out positively straight-backed and with his chin out.

"Hi, Sying," Krissy said, waving at him. She was crouched down, her tail swishing behind her as she watched a firefly and then pounced, trying to capture it between her hands — but it slipped away and she let out a disappointed noise.

"Hi, Krissy," Sying said hesitatingly. "Can I help?"

"Mmhmm," she said, looking around for another firefly.

Sying nodded, though since he was much faster than Krissy, when they did spot a few fireflies, it was a lot easier for him to catch one in his hands, and she let out a delighted laugh. "Don't move!" she said, holding both hands out. "I'm gonna get a jar."

Sying nodded and let the little firefly crawl around in his hands until Krissy came back, and they introduced the little guy to his new home. "Hey, Krissy?"

"Mmmhmm?" she asked, already looking for the next firefly.

"Can I kiss you?"

Krissy spun around to face Sying, her eyes wide, before she laughed and shook her head. "Don't be silly, Sying. We're catching fireflies."

Sying's shoulders slumped, and he let out a sigh. "Maybe after fireflies?"

"No, thank you," she sang out happily.

"Okay," Sying said.

"You can still catch fireflies with me," she offered. "And play pirates."

"Okay," he agreed, nodding again as Krissy bounded off to go find more fireflies, and he was left standing there with the jar with the one firefly that he caught.

He was just getting into a good pout when Charlie caught up to him, frowned when she saw his expression, and gave him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Well, _I _think you're pretty cool," she said and hugged him again.

He hugged Charlie back with a little smile. "Thanks, Charlie. You're pretty cool too."

She grinned and took him by the hand. "Come on. Let's go make shapes out of the stars."

"They're called constellations, and—'

"No," she said, shaking her head as she pulled him to a stop. "We're going to _make them up_."

Sying couldn't help but smile at that. "Okay."


	3. The Ties That Bind

**Chapter 3: "The Ties That Bind"**

With school out, Kate had plenty of time to devote to her only archery class — the one that had started with Krissy and had already grown to encompass her entire age range.

Kids were a lot more fun to teach than teenagers, Kate decided, because they were so much more openly excited about the little things, like the first time they were able to hit a target, or the first time they hit a target when they were _trying _to hit a target.

It was definitely the best class ever, and she was _so _not going to cut it short for anything, especially not for the stupid invitation to a futzing Board meeting. She knew it was for that evening, and not only was she blowing them off but she was going to make sure she spent the day in archery to practice so she could shoot 'em up if they were going to poke their noses in her life again.

"You look like you're plotting," Kurt teased as he appeared behind her and leaned over her shoulder.

Kate smiled and turned his way to kiss his cheek. "Just enjoying the day here and not in a stuffy board room," she replied.

He frowned, nodding slowly as he caught the not-so-veiled reference. "Perhaps we should go and dissolve their Board again," he said. "The last time we broke them up, they seemed to leave you alone for a few years, at least."

"I'm not giving them the time of day," Kate sniffed. "Last time I went to an invite like this, Daken pointed out that I was giving the Hellfire Club power by showing up at their place."

"And you are taking advice from Daken now?" Kurt asked with one eyebrow raised.

"When he's right."

"You trust him?"

"No," Kate said, shaking her head. "But he was right. Please stop making me say that, too, because I don't like it anymore than you do."

"Just be careful," Kurt said, leaning over to gently kiss her cheek before he took her hand in his, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles.

"I know," she said softly. "I mean… these are the people that killed me, Kurt. I _know_."

Kurt brought her hand up to kiss her hand gently before the two of them leaned into each other, deciding to watch the kids practice archery for a while instead of thinking about the ridiculous Board.

Though the intention to relax went out the window when Kurt went from chuckling over Kate's instructions to Chance — who was actually a good shot but couldn't get the grip right — to a sudden sound like all the breath had caught in his chest before he sank to his knees, already bleeding badly.

It had been sudden enough that there wasn't enough time to get the kids to look away or distract them, and Krissy outright screamed as Kate booked it to where Kurt was, wide-eyed and trying to figure out what had gone wrong. It looked like he'd been shot, but she hadn't heard anything, couldn't see anyone.

It was just pure luck that Logan was already heading down to get the kids and take them to karate, and when he heard the scream, he broke into a run — not at all expecting to see Kurt bleeding on the ground. He didn't say anything until he'd already picked him up and turned toward the house. "What the hell happened?"

"I don't know," Kate said, keeping pace with him with Krissy running to K behind them to bury her face in K's shoulder while Elin tried to help her best friend calm down. "He was fine — and then he wasn't. It looks like he was shot, but I didn't see or hear anything."

"There wasn't any gunpowder smoke in the air," Logan said. "And no report. I'd have heard even a silenced rifle." As he spoke, he rushed to the med lab and set Kurt down.

But before Hank could ask — or Kate and Logan could tell him — what had happened, Kurt rallied just a bit, putting a hand on Logan's arm. "Ulaanbaatar," he whispered hoarsely. "Mongolia."

Logan frowned at him as Hank took over, and K grabbed a bamf on her way through the med lab. "I'll bet they can find him," she suggested before she took a hold of Logan's hand.

"Find — oh," Kate said, her eyes narrowing as she caught up to the other two and shook her head. "I'm going to kill him. I'm going to find a way to break this spell, and then I'm going to kill him with my own sword. No duel, just… _slikt…_ right in the chest while he's sleeping or something."

"We'll find him," Logan said as two other bamfs appeared on his shoulders — and in a poof of smoke, the ferals and the bamfs disappeared.

When they reappeared, it wasn't in the center of the city but toward the outskirts, and the bamfs were fairly good guides until the smoke was clear; their level of nervousness over their big brother was a good indication of which direction to go.

The two of them shared a look and took off running in the direction that the bamfs were shying away from, and it wasn't too far into their search that they both caught Azazel's scent in the dusty cobbled streets.

The former demon king was in the far back section of a library, which was big enough that apparently no one had noticed — or perhaps no one had cared — when the shot went off. And it was definitely a gunshot wound that the now-mortal Azazel was sporting, lying propped up against a bookshelf with one hand covering his stomach, trying to staunch the bleeding, though it wasn't as bad of a wound as the one they'd seen on Kurt, since he'd stolen some healing from K and it was starting to heal more properly.

The ferals shared a quick look, and K darted forward as Azazel smirked to himself — only to find himself swallowing a few teeth as she cracked him in the jaw with her full strength, knocking him out cold. "I am not carrying him," K told Logan.

"No, you don't need to," he agreed before he grabbed a hold of Azazel's foot and started dragging him out behind them. The people in the library skittered clear of them, but no one intervened as they slipped out.

When the bamfs spotted them again, they looked apprehensive until they realized Azazel was completely unconscious, and then they broke into little giggles and pulled faces at the laid out former demon lord before they grabbed hold of Logan and K and teleported the whole group of them to Hank's lab.

"Oh good. You brought my pincushion," Kate grumbled when she saw them returning.

"You call Doc Strange yet?" Logan asked, though he looked like he was just barely getting the words out.

"He's on his way," Kate said with a nod, glaring past where Hank was still working on Kurt at Azazel. "He can futzing _heal; _why's he got to be so … gah."

"Do you want me to head up to the kids, or should I stay just in case?" K asked. "I _know _if he wakes up again, Logan will handle it."

"Daisy's got Kari and Kaleb," Kate said, chewing on her lower lip. "Um… Scott's got Krissy. And Elin. They're sort of attached, sorry."

"Then I'll stay here," she replied.

"Thanks," Kate said, leaning on K's arm as soon as the older woman was seated next to her; she felt suddenly very tired.

At about the same time Hank had finished stabilizing Kurt, Doctor Strange finally made his appearance, a deeply settled frown creasing his forehead as he looked over the scene — Hank and Kurt as well as the unconscious but healing Azazel and the three conscious but angry observers.

"We need to get you to break the bond between this slimy piece of trash and my best friend so I can skin him alive," Logan said in lieu of a greeting.

Strange raised both eyebrows at the explanation but nodded all the same. "I've heard as much from Hawkeye, though in a slightly different phrasing," he said, tipping his head Kate's way.

"Oh, she can kill him," Logan said. "I just want to spend a few hours with him first."

Strange's frown deepened at that, but he didn't argue the point, instead muttering a few enchantments to keep Azazel in place first and foremost before he could examine the spell itself. By the time he was through, Hank was cleaned up, and the group was just… waiting.

"Blood magic," Strange said with disdain. "Of course — the demon's favorite shortcut."

Logan half glared K's way and stepped a few steps further back next to her to give Strange a little more room to work.

It took some time — enough that by the time Strange opened his eyes from concentrating, Kurt was already starting to stir from the medicine that Hank had pumped into him — but at last, Strange let out a sigh. "I wouldn't have been able to break it at any other time," he admitted at last as he brushed his hands off on his pants. "But when it was in _use_ — then I could." He looked angry for a moment as he glanced toward Azazel, who was also starting to stir. "I'm just sorry that your friend had to be hurt for me to break the ties that bind them together."

Logan didn't bother to bite back the growl. "So we can kill him now, right?"

"Give it another five minutes to be sure," Strange said with almost a smirk. "There is always residual magic in these things. Let them breathe out the last of it."

"I can wait five minutes," Kate said, already with her hand on her sword.

"Speak for yourself," Logan muttered, clearly tensed and ready to pounce.

Azazel stirred, trying to get out of whatever spell Strange had on him to keep him still, before he turned his gaze toward K. For just a moment, his gaze and eyes looked downright demonic — before K simply turned on Strange, and the good doctor barely managed to dodge what would have been a serious impaling.

Before she could make another attack, Logan darted in and brought her to the ground, locking her in a tight hold that Kate was sure she'd seen K get out of before — but that just wasn't happening right then. And when Strange looked up to where Azazel had been on the bed, he even let out a curse on seeing for just a fleeting second as Kurt teleported Azazel away.

With Azazel gone, the hold on K evaporated, and Strange glared between them. "Who else is under his thrall? Do you know?" he demanded.

"That's it," Logan said. "This was from the stupid deal she made to save the kids."

"That will make it difficult to break," Strange muttered like a curse, clearly agitated. "Demonic deals are nigh unbreakable if entered willingly."

"Not going to apologize for saving the girls," K spit out stubbornly.

"And you shouldn't," Kate said in a softer tone, though she was still staring at where Kurt had disappeared with Azazel before she glanced at one of the bamfs. "Can you…?"

The little guy nodded once and disappeared, and a few moments later, it seemed he'd found Kurt, because the bamf and Kurt reappeared just where Hank had left him, with Kurt looking considerably pale and definitely angry.

It was a tossup who would get there faster, Kate or Hank, but Kate slid under Hank and grabbed Kurt around the shoulders to hug him far above where he'd been hurt. "What happened?" she asked.

He shook his head hard. "I took him to the South China Sea," he said tiredly. "He said he could find Mystique from there."

"Well that's just lovely," Logan said. "At least she managed to keep her crap record as an assassin again."

"Lucky me," Kurt said, his eyes narrowed as Hank shook his head and muttered about demons undoing his good work under his breath.

"Strange broke the spell, though," Kate said. "We can kill him as soon as we find him, and it won't kill you."

"That," Kurt said with a sigh, "is not much consolation. At all."

"I know," Kate said, holding one of his hands.

Strange watched for a moment longer — just to be sure Kurt was back to himself — before he turned toward Logan. "And Nightcrawler? I somehow can't believe he would be foolish enough to enter into a deal with his father," he said in a sharp tone.

"I absolutely did _not_," Kurt said almost matching his tone.

Strange turned to face him and then shook his head. "Then you, at least, I have hope of helping," he said. "Blood magic, control, that can be undone. A demon deal…made with the demon who _created _this kind of trickery?" He turned back toward K and looked livid. "It will take some real doing to find a way out beyond simply killing him."

K let out a little sigh, though it was clear she was annoyed too. "In my defense, I _thought _he was no longer a demon."

"That is the _only _thing that makes me believe I can break this deal," Strange said. "But I'll have to examine this more closely. He still has some powers, even if his mortality is ensured..." He shook his head. "Neither one of you should be anywhere near him in the meantime. It will only strengthen his hold."

"Got it," K said, though she didn't look thrilled even as Logan wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.

* * *

While Kate was downstairs with Kurt making sure that he didn't _die _on account of his father and the spell that had been placed on him, Scott was watching out for Krissy. He hadn't exactly had much of a choice in it, since the little elfling had attached to him as soon as K set her down in the same room as Scott, and it had taken him fifteen minutes just to get her to calm down enough to breathe properly and to tell him what had her so upset.

Before Krissy could get too involved, Elin came over with a blanket for her and draped it over her shoulders. "It'll be okay," she told her before she leaned forward and kissed her best friend's cheek.

Scott had to smile at that and reached over to ruffle Elin's hair. "Thanks," he told her as he readjusted Krissy so that she could hold onto the blanket and him. "She's right, you know," he told Krissy in as calm a tone as possible. "Hank's the best doctor I know, and your dad's tough as nails."

Krissy raised an eyebrow at him, rubbing her cheeks with both hands as she tried to get control of herself.

Scott ruffled her hair lightly. "Come on; you know your dad's probably eating a Twinkie right now," he said with a little smirk that finally got Krissy to give him one right back.

"Okay," Krissy said, though her tail was twitching just as the tip, a dead giveaway that she was still upset, and Scott sighed as she buried her face in his shoulder again, not really crying so much as hiding, until there was a quiet little _bamf _and she perked up to see the little blue imp that had teleported in to start chattering at her.

They held a quick conversation in a language that Scott still didn't understand until Krissy nodded and turned to Scott. "No Twinkies," she told Scott, shaking her head. "He's sleeping."

"See?" he said. "They've got it covered."

Krissy tipped her head to the side and readjusted the blankets around her shoulders. "Well," she said at last in a sort of diplomatic tone, "they fixed my papa up anyway."

He frowned. "So…" he prompted her.

"So they still gotta problem with papa's papa," Krissy said with a shrug. "That's why Papa's been going looking for him and why I can't go to the normal school." She leaned forward with a tiny smile. "I'm okay with that part, though."

"That won't last forever," Scott said, shaking his head lightly. "Don't worry — everybody on the team is working on dealing with that."

"And the little bitch," Krissy said with a nod.

Scott stopped and very nearly laughed in disbelief. "Who told you that?" he asked.

"I heard it," she said, tossing her hair back and forth. "Elin says that's his name, right, Ellie?"

"That's what Mom calls him," Elin said. "Dad doesn't argue with her about it."

"Well it's not a nice thing to call someone, alright?" Scott told the two girls.

"Dad says it's okay about _him_." Elin said with her arms crossed.

"I'm sure he does," Scott said, shaking his head to himself. "Just… don't use it for anyone else, alright? And especially not around Annie," he added, this time smiling a little bit.

"Okay," Elin said, shrugging a little bit but wondering to herself if she was limited in all languages or just English where everyone could understand her.

"Can I use it for my grandfather?" Krissy asked curiously.

"I heard him called a 'monster-in-law'," Elin said.

"Yeah, but that doesn't work for me," Krissy pointed out.

"Um … what about just monster?" Elin suggested.

Krissy considered it for a moment before she let out a sigh and nodded. "Okay. That'll work."

Scott shook his head at both of the girls. "Why don't we play something?" he suggested — to get them out of the conversation on what to call their parents' respective problems.

"I don't really want to play outside right now," Krissy admitted, and Scott nodded.

"That's fine. We can get out Boggle or something," he suggested.

Krissy giggled and pointed at Elin. "_Only _English words," she said before anything else.

"Rude," Elin muttered as she sat down with her feet folded up under her. "No German for you then either."

"Rude," Krissy shot back, then slowly started grinning. "Lots of German _is _English, though, so, ha."

"I can say the same thing about a _few _languages," Elin countered.

"Just English," Scott cut in before they could get too much further. "Besides, the game doesn't have any tiles for the extra letters," he pointed out.

"We have to stick to English so Uncle Scott has a prayer," Elin whispered.

"Well, Mama says he's getting old now that he's a grandpa," Krissy whispered back.

"And you know you can't teach old dogs _anything_," Elin agreed.

Scott shook his head at both of them as he set the game down between them. "Not true," he said with a smirk. "I've learned plenty from Annie."

"Maybe," Elin said, tipping her head to the side. "But you've been married _forever_."

"Longer than you've been alive anyway," he smirked.

"Which is forever," Krissy agreed as she started to shake up the Boggle cube and then turned it upside down. "Okay. I'm gonna win."


	4. Welcome to the Board

**Chapter 4:"Welcome to the Board"**

"I swear to you, K, if the guy at the counter calls you my big sister, I'm going to have… I don't know. Words," Kate said as she and K stopped by an ice cream shop on the way home from Bishop Publishing. It was the beginning of July and, as Kate said, "way too hot not to have ice cream," after all — and plus, she could really use something sweet after the recent _terrorization _by her monster-in-law.

"I'll buy him a drink," K laughed. "And you can hire him as your hottest new fiction writer. Obviously."

"Obviously," Kate said, rolling her eyes as she looked over the different flavor options. "I think I'll pick up a gallon to take home too. Krissy's still not over the demon visit on Tuesday."

"No one is," K muttered. "Logan's still in a mood."

"Kurt would be in more of a mood if Hank hadn't had to restitch him," Kate said. "He's too dopey to be in a mood. I'm sure I'll get it later."

"Oooh, maybe that's what I need to do. Bribe Annie to watch the kids so I can try to get Logan drunk again."

"She'd do it too," Kate said with a smirk. And then, just to tease, she added, "I mean, there's a baby Summers without a Howlett. It's _Rachel's, _but still."

"Oh, don't you start too," she replied with a little laugh.

"Well, _I _don't think it counts when she's a Drake, but hey, there are Summers genes in there; you can't argue that part."

"Stop," K said as they got up to the counter. "It's not fair that my big sister thinks she can push me to more babies."

"Well, Lisbet's already that way," Kate said without hesitating, her nose in the air but not quite containing her laughter.

"Doesn't mean you gotta be too," K replied. "It's bad enough with the twice a day texts from Wade _insisting _that my kid count is off and that there need to be more tiny Logan's."

"Did you tell him to work on his own?" Kate asked.

"I did," she agreed. "Multiple times. I even have an auto response programmed in for him."

Kate laughed at that and shook her head. "Wade's a good dad. He needs a tiny little healer. That would be perfect for his paranoia level too."

"Well, no guarantees for those two," K said with a shrug. "Sadly."

"No, but I live in optimism," Kate said, tossing her hair over her shoulder as they got to the counter. "I'm gonna need a double scoop of the chocolate chunk, and another gallon of it to take home, pretty please."

"Double scoop, huh?" K said quietly. "That bad?"

"It's the hottest July in years, a demon almost killed my husband, my daughter is freaking out thinking her grandpa can kill her dad remotely and there's nothing she can do to help… yeah. Double scoop."

"Crazy talk," K muttered.

"Well, I _did _try to explain to Krissy that at least the remote killing spell isn't a thing anymore, but…" Kate sighed and let her shoulders slump. "When you get kidnapped by an evil grandpa, you kind of remember it."

"Right, I get that," she agreed. "We'll have to take her to do something fun."

"I was thinking of taking her somewhere with roller coasters. She loves heights. It's the Hawkeye genes," Kate said with a little laugh.

"Sounds right to me," K laughed, then looked over at the counter kid. "I'm good. Thanks."

"Well, at least I know you're not carrying number four," Kate teased as she took the bag with the gallon of ice cream and then the double scoop. "Thanks!"

"Worst pregnancy test ever," K muttered.

"Hey, you gotta admit: you have more of a sweet tooth when it happens," Kate pointed out.

"Little bit, yeah," K answered with a shrug. "But it's the insufferable looks that really gets me eating more sweet stuff."

"Yeah, I know. I remember," Kate said with a nod.

"I'm not even talking about the rest of the house," she clarified. "Logan's bad enough on his own."

"You've got no one to blame for yourself for your tastes," Kate sang her way, grinning around her ice cream cone.

"Shut up, Mrs. Blueberry Backstabber."

"Aww, you love me anyway," Kate laughed, draping her free arm around K.

"I have to, you're married to my surrogate dad," K laughed.

"We do have pretty weird family dynamics, don't we, sis?"

"Lil' bit," K agreed with a smirk. "I'd tell 'Dad' about your antics, but he'd likely join in."

"He can't help it. The last ten years have been so good for my little romantic," Kate laughed, catching a dripping bit of ice cream on her tongue. "Seriously. Oh my gosh. We step outside for two seconds and my ice cream is already imploding. Why does July _exist_?"

"To warm up for August, duh."

"Ugh." Kate pulled a face at K and rolled her eyes. She had barely gotten another two bites into her ice cream cone, however, before a handful of overly large men stepped out from the side street she and K had just passed, and she stopped in her tracks and got honestly annoyed. "Oh _come on_," she grumbled, glancing to K and fully expecting to see her secretary primed for her "other" job — though the annoyance turned into concern when she saw the green-tipped darts sticking out of her friend. "Oh crap."

K was already starting to sink when the first big guy stepped in to make a grab for Kate, and while he was rewarded with a knee in the groin, the fact of the matter was that they were too big and too many to handle, and it wasn't more than a few moments later that Kate felt her feet leave the ground as the big guys bodily removed her from the street.

By that time, K was entirely unconscious, and between the big guys manhandling Kate and the laid-out feral, both women were loaded up into cars with familiar green trim to them, each of them sandwiched between men who looked like they could snap an arm in a second flat.

"Okay," Kate muttered to herself. "This looks bad."

On the plus side, seeing as there had been no red smoke or creepy comments about her kids — and K hadn't been attacked with claws and snarls — the most obnoxious suspects on the list were out of the playing field on this particular kidnapping. (Kate could hardly believe sometimes that she lived the kind of life where there were levels to kidnapping.) And the green-tipped darts gave away at least one of the players, though the question now was if this was a Hydra move, a Viper move or … well, Kate _had _blown off the Board recently.

Finally, the car pulled to a stop, and the big guys manhandled Kate and K into a building that, Kate saw briefly, was just a few blocks away from Avengers Tower. So Hydra or Viper or the Board or whoever could definitely see the comings and goings there. _Great. _

The manhandling went from carrying to just holding Kate and K in place when they hit the top floor, where the familiar green woman was smirking more than Kate felt was necessary. "Nice place you have here," Kate said, trying to squirm to get her feet to touch the ground, but no, apparently, that wasn't happening.

"It suits my needs," Viper said, though Kate saw that the smirk seemed to be more directed at the still-drugged K.

"So what… you wanted a girls night this badly?" Kate called out, halfway to redirect her attention from K because it made her nervous.

Viper smirked at her a bit wider. "I wanted to make sure that you wouldn't be foolish enough to ignore another of our invitations," she replied, though she made her way over to retrieve her darts.

Kate let out a frustrated noise. "You have got to be kidding — my _husband was shot_. I wasn't gonna go anywhere, especially not to the _futzing Board meeting_."

"Oh, well. He's perfectly safe now, isn't he?" Viper challenged before she gave her guard holding K a few muttered instructions and watched him disappear into the next room with her. "You have nothing holding you back now."

"I'm not joining your stupid treehouse club," Kate said with her chin thrust out.

"Fine. Get out then."

Kate squirmed pointedly, already knowing she wasn't going to get out of the guy's grip that was holding her off the ground. "I'd love to."

"What do you weigh, Hawkeye?" Viper asked in her most conversational tone. "I don't want to give you too heavy a dose."

Kate's eyes widened, and she shook her head lightly. "That's … an impolite question. Especially in mixed company."

"In context? I think not," Viper argued. "And you can't think that I'd simply let you get a head start to go tattle to your little star-spangled friend, do you?"

"It's sporting?" Kate offered.

"Hardly," Viper laughed. "Though your sense of humor is quite charming."

"I like to think so," Kate said with a little smirk, squirming a little more as she looked around the room for something — anything — she could use, but there wasn't anything within reach.

Viper smiled as she approached her, vial and needle in hand. "My men's lives depend on them doing their job efficiently. They don't make mistakes. So you can whisper the number to me if you're shy."

"How about… you don't do that? And … okay, what's it gonna take to walk out of here with my friend?" Kate said, leaning back and away from the needle.

Viper's smile stretched wide. "That … is a separate matter — one that you have no business in."

"She's my best friend and my secretary," Kate argued.

"America Chavez is your best friend, and you don't have an actual secretary," Viper said. "Don't try to oversell it to me."

"Can't a girl have more than one best friend?" Kate asked. "Come on. I'll go to your super secret treehouse club and everything."

Viper shook her head as she stalked across the room and took a seat. "Our negotiations are for your attendance at the meeting."

Kate nodded. "Right. And I'm _negotiating _that I'll go if K walks out with me when it's over."

But the green-haired woman just shook her head. "That's not your negotiation to make. Not for simple attendance."

Kate shook her head lightly. "I'm not — look. I'll go to the treehouse club. I will. The Board doesn't even want her; you don't need her."

Viper blinked several times. "What makes you think the Board has anything to do with _that_?"

Kate frowned. "So… this is two separate kidnappings," she surmised.

"That's what I tried to tell you," Viper laughed. "You really don't listen well."

Kate's frown turned into a little glare as she started to shake her head. "So nothing I offer will get you to back off on her — so why the heck would I deal?" she pointed out.

"Well," Viper said, smirking again. "You can go of your own free will — or I can drug you and give you to someone more interested in playing games with you. I'm sure you haven't made _any _enemies."

Kate unconsciously leaned back away from Viper at the thought. "Well, when you put it that way, the Evil Treehouse sounds like a picnic," she muttered.

"I had hoped you'd see sense," Viper said.

"So you can tell your flying monkey to put me down now," Kate said, trying to reach her toes to the ground.

"And let you make some stupidly noble move like trying to run away or leap out of the thirty-story window? Don't be ridiculous. I doubt you could even _hit _a dumpster from this height."

Kate narrowed her eyes. "So the 'going of my own free will' thing is more semantics than anything at this point, isn't it?"

"A bit, yes," Viper admitted. "You have to understand: there are several interested parties with offers out there in exchange for _you_. Dead for some, alive for others. But I'd hate to see the point when you found what my price would be to trade you in myself."

"I'll be honest. I'm trying to decide if I'm offended I don't meet the snob assassin requirements or relieved that I don't? It's a toss-up for my pride," Kate said.

Viper smirked wider, very nearly breaking into a smile. "You should only be flattered when I put out my own money to make it happen."

"Well, now I have life goals."

"Life-ending goals, how charming."

"Hey. I'm a superhero; you're a supervillain, I feel like this is a reasonable life goal to have," Kate pointed out. "Not like I don't make a living pissing off the anti-mutant crowd already. Can't know I'm doing it right unless someone wants to kill me, apparently."

"Like I care about the anti-mutant crowd," Viper countered.

"Your boss does," Kate shot back as the man started to carry her after Viper.

"My _boss_?" Viper said with her eyebrows raised. "Who would that be?"

"Oh you know. Red face. Real ugly. Probably dead, but that seems to be a temporary thing, like, _all _the time…"

Viper just started laughing at that. "Please," she replied, purely amused. "Continue. You really are amusing."

Kate glared her way but said, "And I'm cute too."

"You are," Viper agreed, pausing to give Kate an appraising look over her shoulder.

Kate closed her mouth and lightly shook her head. "And married. Happily, happily married."

"Like that means anything these days," Viper said with a wave.

"And Catholic?" Kate added, still shaking her head.

"Historically, the worst offenders."

Kate squirmed a little more as they rounded a corner. "I think I liked this better when there was the threat of death and destruction," she muttered.

"That makes two of us," Viper agreed as two large double doors opened for them at the end of the hall. She swept in and took her spot at the long, glass table overlooking midtown — and Kate noted, the Avenger's Tower was easily in view. Wilson Fisk was already seated at the table opposite Viper. "Find a place, Mrs. Wagner."

For the first time, Kate had her feet on the ground, but she didn't make a move to sit down. "You guys have a weird escalation policy. The first invite was _much _nicer," she said, her arms crossed over her chest as she stayed back toward the wall.

"Yet you ignored it all the same," Viper said, leaning back and inspecting her nails.

"I told you — my husband got _shot_," Kate said, blowing past the fact that she was going to ignore it anyway. "Sorry, but Nightcrawler trumps you creeps every. Single. Time."

"Good to know," Viper said. "Only him, is it, dear?"

Kate took a slight step back but kept her chin thrust out. "Actually, I'd take anyone over you, really."

"Just trying to determine who's expendable," Viper said airily.

"Please, Mrs. Wagner," Fisk cut in. "Take a seat. We have business to discuss that doesn't revolve around the X-Men."

Kate took a deep breath, swallowed, and found a seat a respectable distance from Fisk but close enough that she didn't look too… well. Intimidated. Not that she was doing a good job of _not _looking intimidated, but there it was. "Alright. Fine," she said. "Let's just… get this over with."

She didn't have long to wait before the next couple of board members trickled in … the always-charming Dog, followed shortly by Arcade and Mentallo — all of whom kept their gaze on Kate with a glare. And still, two chairs remained unfilled.

Viper was set to start complaining when, finally, a pack of tracksuits appeared on the other side of the glass doors — and only one continued inside. The ones outside took a look down the hall and scattered as the sound of heels clicking on the hardwood floor echoed down to the boardroom. Madame Masque strutted right down the hall, clearly focused on Kate as she did so — ultimately taking the seat directly across from her.

"I see you replaced the body with the cigarette up your nose. Good call, good call," Kate bit out Masque's way when she finally couldn't stand it anymore.

Viper smiled outright at that, enjoying the entertainment if nothing else; Masque's sneer was almost heard behind her mask. "You're just lucky it was Viper who came to get you, Hawkeye," Masque shot back.

"That's something no one ever says, ever," Dog muttered from across the room.

"I'm Hawkeye," Kate said as if that explained everything. "Breaker of rules and norms and current kidnap victim. Hello."

"No one cares," he replied.

"If that were true, I wouldn't be here," Kate pointed out. "I could be eating a double chocolate chunk ice cream right now."

"As usual, Dog doesn't speak for anyone but himself," Fisk said.

"Then spill. The theatrics are great — my husband the drama teacher would give you all top marks — but the substance has been particularly lacking."

"Oh, I like her," Viper said, nodding. "Yes, she should join immediately, if nothing else, to irritate Masque."

"I do that for my day job," Kate pointed out. "I'm not joining your super secret club just to entertain you either. That's just not a thing."

"You may want to rethink that position," Fisk said. "We're still sorely missing your father's presence, and we'd like to you join up — at the same cost, with the same benefits." He gestured to Masque and the tracksuit leader seated at the table. "It would make the threats your fellow Board members could make to you disappear, among other things."

Kate shook her head. "I already told you. I'm _not _my father. I don't owe you anything."

"We're well-aware," Fisk replied. "And we don't think you owe us — exactly. But I'd like to point out how simple it was to get you here and explain to you in easy terms how vulnerable you've been these years to the threat any one of our members might pose."

Kate glanced around the room and particularly at Masque. "Yeah. Well. See. It's sort of a code of superheroic honor of not dealing with crooks, so…"

Viper chuckled at that. "And who is your model citizen superhero for that little code? Your half-demon husband, or his crime lord best friend?"

"Or the guy who taught me how to take even the most impossible shots... or the star-spangled man with the house across the street…"

"Yes, well. That's not who you've got your time lodged with the most, is it?" Viper asked primly.

"I'm a grown woman. I can have my own code," Kate said, her arms crossed over her chest. "And besides, it's not even possible for you to dip into _my _company. I've already had the legal team write it up so I can't sell off without a few key people signing off, and you know they won't. After what you guys pulled with my sister, you won't get any legal hold anywhere. I've made sure of it."

"We don't want control; we don't even want a share. Just … a donation," Fisk replied. "Something that your company can do without legal involvement — and large enough to ensure our continued protection to you and your family." He pushed a single, folded sheet of paper her way.

As Kate scowled at the paper without touching it, Masque picked up a remote and flicked on the television on the far end of the room — which filled the room with the laughter of the little ones at Xaviers playing outside the institute.

Kate's eyes widened despite her best efforts to have a measured and calm reaction, and she glanced down at the paper in front of her, then closed her eyes. "So... is there a membership patch or a school song I need to learn or…"

"Nothing so mundane," Viper replied for Fisk. "We're all here. We all would know if one of our own was stupid enough to make an attempt on another."

Kate nodded at that, her gaze on the single folded sheet with details on just exactly what her father had been paying — as a percentage, so that the board would get more as profits went up — as well as details on how the board members would invest in each other's endeavors as they came up. She folded the sheet back up and nodded once. "Alright," she said at last. "I'll… send you the, ah, membership fee."

"You have twenty-four hours," Fisk told her.

She nodded again and brushed her hands off on the knees of her pants. "Is that all?"

"For now, yes," Fisk replied.

Kate started to stand to leave and then paused. "This might be a long shot, but hey, I'm a Hawkeye," she almost muttered as she looked Viper's way. "K. I consider her to be part of my family."

"Deep feelings aside, that's just not a legal precedent," Viper replied. "Oh, and before you try anything foolish: the building won't allow teleportation, and by the time you return, she will be elsewhere."

Kate gave Viper a tight smile. "What, me? Teleport in here? I'm part of the Board now; I wouldn't do that to you."

"Oh, yes," Viper said with a little frown. "Your husband and his little friends, though? This is not my first encounter."

"I can tell; you're scared of him," Kate said with an impish grin.

"Of Nightcrawler?" Viper asked with a growing smile. "Oh … certainly. He's _terrifying._"

"You're gonna have to stop agreeing with me, because it's freaking me out," Kate muttered as she headed for the door, not taking her eyes off the group as she opened it and then, as soon as it was closed behind her, positively barrelling down the hallway toward the elevator.

She was on the bottom floor several agonizingly long seconds later, and at Avenger's Tower after an even longer time than that, panting and wide-eyed and much more obviously freaked out than she had been when she was facing down all the creeps in one board room. And when Steve was the one to greet her at the door, looking concerned, she practically flung her arms around him in a relieved hug.

"I need so, so much help right now."


	5. Redecoration

**Chapter 5: "Redecoration"**

For just a moment, Steve blinked at Kate. He hadn't been expecting to see her at all until a couple weeks from now, when he was going to take his turn at the institute. But seeing Kate so _upset… _

"What happened?" Steve asked. Since she didn't seem likely to let go of at least his arm any time soon, he just had an arm around her shoulders as he pulled her inside, frowning hard.

"Oh, so many problems all at once," Kate told him, suddenly very glad that she had _Captain America _on her list of people to call for backup. "I mean, the most pressing issue is that Viper has K right now — the building's, like, a few blocks from here. I ran the full length here and—" She took a deep breath. "—so. Right. Viper lives across from your house and has one of my best friends in the world and isn't going to give her up and also I think I just joined a supervillain cabal."

For just a moment, Steve let out a disbelieving laugh. "What? What are you talking about? Do you need medical attention?"

She picked her head up to glare at Steve. "It's not funny, Cap. This is my life right now, and I need you to focus, because this is a _problem_ and Viper still has K and isn't gonna give her back, and I _tried _to deal but—"

"Alright, well, we should probably get a hold of Logan first. He'll know the best way to handle that little issue — and by little I mean … what the heck, Kate? How did this even happen?"

Kate shook her head and let out a little sigh as they finally reached a room with chairs in it and she all but fell into one, still shaking her head. "It… so. Okay. You remember the board that tried to kill me and Clint and totally had my dad working as a full-time member?" she asked, deciding to start from more or less the beginning, for simplicity's sake. When Steve didn't say 'no', she took that to mean she could move forward. "So they kinda have been bothering me since Dad died trying to get their cut back and I totally blew them off on Tuesday because, well, I'm not going to be a supervillain? So they sent Viper to grab me — and I guess K was, like, the icing on the cake because that woman has it out for Logan and K now too apparently. And it just ... kinda ... it just kept spiralling out of my control and all I wanted to do was eat a double chocolate chunk ice cream cone and go _home_," she said in a rush of words before she leaned onto Steve's shoulder, totally _done _with everything.

He shook his head lightly and held one hand out in her direction. "Okay. We'll deal with the Board thing later. Why don't you give details outside of the ice cream to Jessica while I call Logan?"

"Thanks, Cap," she muttered. "I… am _so _in over my head."

He patted her back a few times, then stepped back with his cell phone and made the call, while Kate went to go find Jess.

"I didn't think your rotation was for another few weeks," Jess said, having heard her name and not much more than that from the next room over.

"It's not," Kate said, having moved on from her report to Steve into something approaching a state of shock as she gestured for Jess to sit with her. "I — this is — totally separate," she tried to explain. "I was in the neighborhood, ran into Viper, now it's a thing."

"What do you mean you ran into Viper? That's is not a thing that happens accidentally," Jessica pointed out.

"Ah, no. No it is not. It's a kidnapping that happens purposefully, and she still has K, which is why Steve's face looks like that," Kate said, gesturing to where Steve was making plans with Logan over the phone on tracking down K.

"Oh, that's just not going to be pretty," Jessica said quietly. "What … how did you get away and she didn't? No offense, but I thought the stabby one would be harder to hold down. You know. Without massive bleeding."

Kate shifted slightly. "Well… there was drugging involved," she said. "And I didn't exactly… 'get away.' More like… 'let loose'."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jessica was frowning deeply at her as she pulled her further from Cap.

Kate let out a breath and drew both hands over her face. "Okay. So. My dad was an evil supervillain," she said. "I mean, little less 'super' than the usual variety, but he ran with, like, Kingpin and Viper on a regular basis."

"What?" Jess looked horrified. "Your dad … your _dad _was on friendly terms with … _what?_"

Kate nodded tiredly. "Yeah. Same group that tried to kill me and Clint, for reference on the evil scale."

"What did they … were they threatening you?" Jessica waved both hands. "Today, I mean. Kate. What the hell?"

Kate let out a frustrated noise. "Well, all they wanted was a cut of my money, and that's just — I mean — it's not even a _choice_, is it? Really? Masque's running around videotaping my _kids _and they just want a percentage — _fine_. Fine!" She threw both hands in the air as she finally got to let her frustration out. "Fine! I joined their stupid Board, alright? That's what happened, Jess!"

"What's that got to do with K, though? I don't follow that part," Jessica said.

Kate shook her head. "That's a whole other thing, apparently. Viper wouldn't even consider dealing with me on that part."

"Yeah, don't … no. Don't deal with her. At all. If possible."

"The big smelly guy holding me a foot of the ground sorta limited my options, Jess," Kate pointed out.

"Fine just … don't be cute if you ever have to see her again, okay? You don't want her _approving _of anything you do."

"So… the fact that she stamped 'Viper approved' all over my Board membership is probably not very good?"

Jessica stared at her wide-eyed for a moment. "No!" She started pacing the room, looking a bit unhinged herself as she got worked up over it. "I mean … do you _know _how crazy that woman is? On her worst days, she actually _believes_ that she's my _mother_."

Kate's eyes widened as well, and she took a step toward the pacing Avenger. "I… didn't know that, no," she said.

"And the crazy obsession with Logan? That is not … I don't care what he says; to her, that _marriage _they had was not just about some stupid promise. I can tell you that."

"Yeah, I gathered as much on _that _count at least when she crashed our first attempt at a wedding for Logan?" Kate said, shrugging her shoulder up to one ear and watching Jess pace. "So, is now the right time to tell you I think she was lowkey flirting at me or…"

"Oh my God, Kate," Jessica said quietly as a muted _bamf _echoed the room.

"I know," Kate said just as quietly, peering around the corner to see that Logan and Kurt had arrived and looked ready to tear the world apart.

"Kate, which building is it?" Steve called out. "Can you see it from here? We need to make a plan."

Kate slipped into the room with wide eyes but pointed out the building. "Pretty much got an eagle-eye view of your living room, to be honest," she said as she pointed it out to them.

It was pretty clear that Logan was in no mood to make plans of any kind, obviously itching for a fight _right then_, and Kurt was sure to keep one hand on his shoulder to keep him from darting out without back-up. "So let's go break some creeps," Logan suggested. "Kurt can just port us over."

"You can't teleport inside," Kate said. "Viper told me there's a dampener or something."

"Yeah? Well she's a damned liar too; did you get that in your notes?" Logan asked.

Kate took a step back and nodded. "I'm just ... telling you what she said."

"Did she tell you what the hell she wanted?"

Kate shook her head. "She wouldn't tell me anything about K except that I couldn't negotiate for her. Said it wasn't my concern."

Logan just glared for a moment before he turned on his heel and headed for the exit, with Cap trying to get him to slow down and get a plan in place first.

Kurt looked torn between following Logan and stopping him but it was a pretty easy sell for him to just go along with him, teleporting him to street level before he could ask for it. The two of them were just a few buildings down when there was a crash high up the building Kate said K was being detained in. As the people on the sidewalk scattered to avoid the falling glass, Kurt sucked in a breath on seeing K falling toward the concrete.

Before Logan could react, Kurt was gone in a swirl of brimstone. In a couple of quick teleports, he had K back to where Logan had rushed forward and then, a moment later, brought them both up to Kate. "We need to get her back to Henry," Kurt said. K was having trouble keeping herself upright, even with Logan's help, one hand bloodied up properly and bits of glass still in her hair and clothes.

Kate made a shooing motion with both hands. "Go ahead. I'll meet you there," she said, and an instant later, the three X-Men disappeared.

"I think we should investigate that building," Steve said seriously.

"You're very right. We should," Kate said. "Here's the downlow: It's Viper's. The creepy Board meets in it. The elevator plays horrible music."

"And someone just threw an X-Man out of the window," Steve said with a smirk. "That sounds a lot like a reason to investigate. Mutant-based hate crime and all."

Kate couldn't help but return the smirk as she nodded along to what he was saying. "Well, as much as I'd love to dust off my PI shoes with you… I … really can't do that."

"It's because of the stupid Board, isn't it?" Jessica asked, already pulling her mask on.

Kate nodded. "Members can't interfere with each other, more or less. Not like _this_."

"Then … I guess we'll have to let Clint drive you home," Jessica said. "And I'll let you know how your fellow Board viper is when we get done with her."

"I won't weep," Kate said, shooing them forward as she sank into a chair, totally wiped out emotionally and mentally drained. "I… have to make a few calls anyway."

* * *

When Kurt reappeared in the Avengers Tower a short time later, he was still a little on edge, since K was too out of it to explain what had happened.

What's more, Kate wasn't in the living room where she had been before, and while that wasn't immediately concerning, when she wasn't on the roof or anywhere else that she would usually be when she was on rotation with the Avengers….

Considering everything that had happened, Kurt couldn't help but be concerned. But before he could jump into anything like panic, Clint managed to catch him after a 'port into the kitchen hoping Kate was just getting coffee.

"She's in Bed Stuy," the older Hawkeye said with his hands in his pockets and a heavy frown. "Gave her the key to the roof so she could be alone if she wanted."

Kurt let out a breath of relief but nodded. "Thank you," he said before he teleported off to Bed Stuy, where Kate in fact was standing on the roof. "Kate?"

It took a moment before Kate finally turned Kurt's way, took a few steps toward him, and then rested her forehead against his shoulder. "Is K alright?" she asked.

"She's recovering," Kurt promised as he wrapped his arms around Kate. "And you, _Vögelchen?_"

"Oh, you know," Kate said in a higher-pitched voice than usual. "Just as fine as you can be expected to be joining a supervillain cabal."

Kurt frowned down at her and tipped her chin up, sure she was joking — since he hadn't heard more than the fact that Kate and K had run into trouble with Viper. "What are you talking about?"

Kate was quiet for a long time, just resting her head on his shoulder and looking and sounding incredibly tired. After a long, long moment, she finally let out all her breath in a sigh. "So," she said slowly. "I … ah." She swallowed. "So the Board … they're in full swing. Got the full membership back. Bishop Publishing included."

Kurt frowned, sure that there was more she wasn't telling him, but when he saw how upset she looked, he simply pulled Kate underneath his chin and gently smoothed out her hair. "What happened?" he asked as she leaned deeper into him, her arms locked around him.

"They were mad I blew 'em off," Kate said, which didn't surprise Kurt entirely, since she had told him about the invitation — and that's why K was still going with her to the city. Though that clearly hadn't stopped the Board this time.

"And was that why Viper came after you both?" Kurt asked, trying to understand.

"No," she said. "No… Viper's in business for herself. She just… wants to screw with Logan. And K." She shook her head against his chest. "I think she just saw an opportunity. You know. On top of kidnapping Derek Bishop's kid to get their percentage." She was speaking in a low, metered tone, almost dispassionately.

"Kate?"

She let out a small, hitched breath. "Anyway," she said, clearly trying to get back on track. "So… right. Well. I guess… probably… probably should tender my resignation from the X-Men or something."

He stepped back, his eyes wide as he held her at arm's length. "What on earth for?"

"Well, I joined the Board," Kate said slowly. "Paid my dues." She glanced up at Kurt, and it was obvious just looking at her that she was… lost.

"Kate…" He shook his head and then pulled her into a long and gentle kiss. "Tell me what happened. Start from the beginning."

She practically sank into him, and rather than try to keep her upright, Kurt just sat down with her as she started to tell him in that same shocked tone everything that had happened. Clearly, Kate was having a crisis over the whole thing — that much was obvious by the time she finished her story and was hanging onto Kurt's uniform with one hand.

"I'm in over my head," she told him. "I don't know how to get out. And… and I don't know how to be Hawkeye _and _sit in my dad's seat at the Board."

Kurt held her hand in his through the whole retelling, running his thumb over her knuckles to calm her, though admittedly, he didn't feel calm himself, especially hearing that the Board had also set their sights on their _family_. If Logan hadn't been busy with K, he would have asked him to take a walk with him to put a more _permanent _end to the Board — since, apparently, last time they broke it up hadn't done the job.

"Kate, _liebchen,"_ he said softly, "you're still Hawkeye."

"No, really," Kate said, more insistently this time. "I think I should resign… at least until I'm off the Board. I don't want — it could get dicey—"

"You were threatened and blackmailed, Kate," Kurt told her. He helped her to her feet and rubbed his thumb over her cheek. "We can speak with Scott, but I guarantee you he will tell you the same thing. You're a hero, no matter what the Board pressured you to agree to." He kissed her. "Why do you think I married you?" he added, this time in a lighter, more teasing tone.

She hugged him tightly and let out a hitched breath. "Because I'm cute?"

He laughed. "That too." He gently pushed her hair back from her face and left his hand there, cupping her cheek. "Now, stop saying such ridiculous things. We'll find a way out of this together — we always do."

"I just… don't know where to start," she admitted.

"Let's start by getting you home," he suggested, and an instant later, he teleported both of them home.

* * *

Steve and Jessica left Viper's building, both of them looking completely shocked by what they had found inside — and with no clue as to how to go forward on it. "You want to tell them or should I?" Steve asked.

"Oh. I've got it," Jessica said, with the beginning of a smile on her face. "I mean, ultimately, it's not as good as it _could be_, but …"

"Take Tony," Steve said. "He had a few things to bring to the mansion anyhow, and I want to hear an update. I'm sure that Hank will want to analyze those samples you took."

Jessica walked with him back to the tower, more than happy to get up to the Quinjet waiting on the roof and not even bugged that Stark was going to be her second. "Well. One less supervillain around for a while," Jess told him conversationally.

"Not dead, huh?" Tony asked with a little frown. "I'm sure that K would have liked to hear that after … well. The reports Cap put in look like it was … _fun _up there for a few minutes."

"Not for her," Jessica said dryly.

Tony shook his head, watching the reports coming through as Cap registered them into the system. "These pictures …"

"Yeah. Viper didn't want her photo taken," Jessica said, unable to hide the smile that was threatening to stretch across her face.

When they landed a short while later and the two of them hurried off to Hank's lab — where Henry was waiting for them for the samples Jessica had — Jess was sure Hank was giving K a hard time about whatever it was that had gone down. But then, when she looked closer, her smile fell when she realized that the little woman was still not with it.

Logan was sitting with K, just watching her as she drifted in and out of sensibility. She wasn't speaking clearly when she _tried _to speak, mumbling and slurring her words, and it was pretty clear that she was irritated by it. Her head was buzzing, and she kept her eyes closed for the moment simply because she couldn't deal with the double vision and blurry focus. But it was slowly starting to clear.

"Long-acting poison that _works _on our rapid healing friends?" Tony asked with a serious frown when he saw the two Howletts sitting off in a quiet part of the lab. "That is not good for any of us, is it? I mean … if she's out of it still, how fast do you think it would kill anyone else?"

"It'd be pretty damn fast," Logan muttered. "Don't make the mistake of lettin' that happen."

"So, I … should probably bring her some chocolates or something," Jess said as she handed Logan the reports, moments after Hank took the vials of poison they'd taken from Viper's apartment.

The pictures inside were clear as Logan flipped through the tablet. Lots of blood, but not much wreckage — beyond the damage done to Viper herself. "Holy shit," Logan muttered. It was pretty obvious that K hadn't gotten much of a chance to really fight the woman, but she did make the hits she got in count, in particular, the nasty, deep treble slash that cut almost directly across Viper's face. Her eyes were spared, but directly below them, midway down her nose and almost directly across her mouth, was how K had hit her.

"They already had plastic surgeons flying in from Miami," Tony said with a smirk. "But … that isn't going to heal up quickly.

"Security footage shows her using the other set of claws to break the window," Jessica said. "Which at least explains how she got out of there."

"She got out because she's K," Kate said as she and Kurt teleported into the room, fairly wrapped around each other still.

"She got out because there was no way in hell she was going to let that harpy take her down," Logan said her way with a smirk. "Where you been, kiddo?"

"Bed Stuy," she said with a shrug.

"Missed the smell of dirty laundry and stale pizza, eh?" Logan asked, and that at least got a smirk out of K.

Kate shook her head. "Nah, just… feels like home base when it comes to dealing with this particular brand of stupid."

Jessica bit her lip and took the tablet out of Logan's hand, even knowing he wasn't done yet, to hand to Kate. "You look like you need a little perking up."

Kate raised an eyebrow but took the tablet and then let out a little laugh as Kurt smirked over her shoulder. "She does good work," Kurt said Logan's way.

"Took it a different direction than I have in the past," Logan agreed with a little smile. "I'd bet if she had been a step closer, her head would be on the ground in a few slices."

"Which was probably the end goal," Kate pointed out, glancing K's way.

K cracked an eye open and nodded. "Hate 'er."

"She'll probably be working behind the scenes for .. a long time," Tony said, clapping his hands together. "Too vain to step out ahead of time, I'm sure."

"I'll let you know when she shows up to the next meeting," Kate said with a soft smile. "I can do that much, anyway."

"What are you talking about?" Logan asked.

"Oh, right. You missed the whole…" Kate waved her hand in a small circle through the air. "So I sort of — um — took my dad's spot on the Board?" She rubbed her arms self-consciously. "That was the reason for half the kidnapping. You know, the non-torture-the-Howletts half…"

"Well, that could be useful if you have to do it," Logan muttered, though he was frowning.

"Yeah, well, I can tell you when Viper comes back."

"I'm sure she'll let us know on her own," Logan replied. "Has a tendency to come screamin' back when she's good and ticked off."

"And we'll deal with her when she does," Kurt said with a nod.

"She won't bother us for a while," K drawled out slowly.

"Yeah, looks like you taught her a lesson," Kate said with a smirk as she made her way over to K, then paused and tipped her head when she saw what Hank was working on analyzing. "Where'd you get the darts?"

"Where else?" Hank asked, gesturing to K. "They were in her leg."

But Kate frowned at that. "Viper took the two she hit K with when she picked us up. Those're new."

"Round two," K told her.

"That," Hank said, looking over his half-moon glasses at the pair of them, "is good news. We were working off the assumption that these two were the only darts you'd been hit with."

"She's just now starting to make sense when she talks," Logan told them.

Kurt frowned at that and teleported to stand by K, resting a hand on her shoulder. "We haven't seen that before."

"'M fine, Dad."

Kurt smirked at her. "You can't blame me for worrying over my little girl," he teased.

"Was just out for ice cream. Not. Our. Fault."

"Yeah, I never did get my double chocolate chunk," Kate said with a smirk, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Send Tony; he can bring us milkshakes," K replied, still looking sleepy. "Can'tcha, sweetie?"

"Sure can," Tony replied warmly, though he was frowning deeply at Hank's readouts.

"There's mocha ice cream at this little place Natasha showed me," Jessica offered with a smirk. "Seeing as I think I owe you something sweet for the cheer."

"It was my pleasure," K told her earnestly. "I've wanted to nail her for a long time."

"Since at least the wedding," Kate smirked. "Possibly longer — but the wedding crashing was _stupid_."

"She made my sweetheart worry. That's a stabbable offense," K agreed. "Putting the thing off ... well. That was just bound to happen anyhow. Be real."

"I still maintain that you jinxed it, but whatever," Kate said, waving her hand as she dropped into the seat nearby.

"We should get some bugs together for your next meeting," Tony said to Kate, leaning on a nearby bed. "Might be smart to get ahead of it, figure out what those creeps are up to." He gave Kate a little smile. "Especially considering that we get to _share _a creep."

Kate made a face at him. "I still can't wrap my head around you and Masque being a thing. Ever. She's _psychotic_, Tony."

"Female … walks on her own steam …." K said, trailing off. "Fits the profile."

Tony shot her a look of deep offense as Kate let out a breath of a laugh. "Maybe we should tell a few other people about the creeps, see if they want in on the spying," Kate said. "I mean… Logan, your half-brother's a jerk. And I'm sure a certain red-suited friend of ours would like to hear about what Kingpin's up to."

"Yeah, my brother is an ass. Kinda was hoping he'd gone back to where he belonged," Logan said. "And what do you need Matt for? Most crime syndicates don't really worry much about legality."

"He's already helped me keep my company from being signed over to the Board," Kate said. "But I was thinking more along the lines of — well — me and Tony share a creep… he's got a stake in this too. Sharing a creep wise."

"I'm sure he'd be happy to hear more," Hank agreed.

"You'll have to cook up something _good_, Tony," Kate told him. "Security at those meetings is high, and I'll just bet it'll be higher with me there."

"It's a good thing I've been working on spy gear then, isn't it?"

"Hook me up, Q," she teased.

"That is _not _your nickname for me," Tony said, pointing her way. "And I'm not entirely sure I should answer to it."

"Aww, come on. You did a _great _accent when you hooked me up for the Hellfire Club," she teased.

"He was being cute," K smirked, then shrugged a little. "It was fun …"

"Please don't start," Kurt chuckled low.

"Start what?" K asked. "I was just being honest."

"Of course you were," Kurt said, shaking his head.

Kate cleared her throat. "And… we should step up security on the kids. Just… until this Board thing is over," she said. "Masque had a recording of the girls," she added, biting her lip.

"I … already notified your security advisor," Tony admitted. "No criminal types coming in here."

"And seeing as he's visiting for the summer with the little wannabe Wagner…" Jess teased.

"Gerry told you, didn't he?" Kate smirked.

"About the heartbroken little Kree? Oh yeah."

"It's adorable. Gerry's mad that he missed out on s'mores," K added. "Sorry, Jess. I promise we'll have more peanut butter cups next time he's by."

"You'd better," Jess said with a little laugh. "He's been asking when the kids can come over to play again, but all things considered, I think we'll come here."

"Please — and bring Kate some ice cream for the love of God," K replied. "I'm pretty sure hers is either gone or not trustworthy anymore."

"I'm pretty sure it melted onto the pavement five seconds after we got grabbed. It's _killer _hot outside," Kate pointed out, headed for the door. "I have some peanut butter tracks in the fridge upstairs anyway."

"Well, when you got five gallons of double chocolate whatever …"

"One. One gallon. And I promise I'm going to get my double chocolate chunk next time I go to NYC, I just ... don't wanna go to the city right now," Kate said, waving her hand.

"I'll go," K offered.

"Seriously, you two. I'll bring you the ice cream," Jess said, rolling her eyes.

"I can have Happy on it before you get back your full facilities," Tony offered. "No trouble."

"No, I'm fine, really," K argued.

"Yeah, but I still owe you for the good mood," Jess said with a smirk. "C'mon, let me get you some ice cream for the laughs."

"Oh, well, If that's what it's about … bring me alcohol and watch the kids for a few hours-s-s — or the night. Yes. The night."

Jess laughed outright at that. "Deal. Gerry would love a sleepover anyway."

While Jess and K were going back and forth, Kate had slipped out the door, and Kurt put his hand on Logan's shoulder. "Would you like to join me for a few minutes?" he asked with a small smirk.

Logan watched Jess and K picking back and forth with Tony and just nodded. "Sure. Something else going on that I should know about?"

Kurt tipped his head toward the door. "Kate," he said. "She seems to think she can't be Hawkeye and a part of the Board at the same time."

Logan stared at him for a moment and let out a little noise of disbelief. "Yeah. Let's go fix this."

Kurt nodded once, and an instant later, they had teleported into Scott's office — beating Kate there, so Scott hadn't been expecting anyone and almost startled looking up from what he was working on on his laptop.

"The Avengers report is finished," Logan said, already trying to veer it into a debrief. "K's just now starting to sound like herself, but she's not going to be leaving the lab tonight."

"It took that long for her to come back?" Scott said with a frown.

"It was a second round of darts, probably stronger than the first ones she got hit with. Viper knows how the healing works. She's smart enough to compensate."

"Compensate. Yes, that's what's going on," Kurt said low with an impish grin Logan's way.

Logan smirked but schooled his expression quickly. "She won't be a bother for a while. K tried to take her head off. Just too bad she was a high and a step too far back."

"We'll be ready for her when she comes back," Scott said with a little frown and his head tipped to the side.

"There are other matters that are more pressing," Kurt added before Scott could get too comfortable thinking that was all they'd come to do. "Kate is having a crisis of severe proportions. Just be prepared to stop her panic."

"O-kay." Scott turned Kurt's way. "What's the story there?"

But by that time, Kate had finally caught up to the boys, poking her head in and wrinkling her nose when she saw that Logan and Kurt were there too. "Oh come on."

"Debriefing," Logan said, as a bamf appeared at his shoulder with the tablet. "Just a transfer of information." He didn't drop eye contact with her as he handed the tablet to Scott.

Scott nodded along with Logan. "Come on in, Kate. I know K's still recovering, so I'd like to hear from you what happened."

Kate paused but slowly made her way over to sit down in front of Scott and haltingly made her way through most of the details of the kidnapping — and then the Board meeting. And the whole time Kate was detailing her experience with Viper, Logan was sure to give her the worst look he could muster.

"Don't start with me. I already got Jess giving me the 'what the futz' treatment," Kate grumbled. "It is _not _my fault the psycho has a sense of humor."

"You know, Jess had an excuse," Logan pointed out. "She really didn't know any better. But _you …_ you do."

"In my defense, I was trying to make Masque mad? Not make Viper happy?" Kate offered.

Logan let out a groan as he covered his face with both hands. "Why? You _know _just bein' there is enough to piss her off."

Kate shook her head. "I don't have any powers, Logan. The best defense I have is words when I can't get out. I've survived everything that's been thrown at me on a one-liner and a prayer."

"And she took a real, substantial shot at killin' K," Logan replied. "She. Is. Nuts."

"I _know_!" Kate said, throwing both hands up in frustration. "You seriously think I'm _trying _to get on her good side? She freaks me the frak out!"

"So the smart thing would have been to _stop _when you realized she liked your lip. Or hip. Or whatever she was amused with at the moment." Logan didn't look the least bit apologetic about that little bust either.

"I _did_. And then Masque and the Board changed the dynamic and — look. I wasn't gonna just… join quietly. It wasn't for _her _benefit. It was for my sanity!" Kate insisted. "It was better than bursting into tears or screaming — which I was really, really close to doing."

"You're right. She probably wouldn't have let you go without an engagement ring if you did that," Logan deadpanned.

"Please stop," Kate said. "It freaked me out bad enough in the moment. Don't — don't make it worse."

"You and Jess could be sisters," Logan continued with a shrug. "Or sister wives."

"Logan," Kate said in a pleading tone. "Come on. It's been a really horrible, really long day."

"He really doesn't have any room to talk," Scott said, barely containing the smirk. "Only one person in this room was _ever _married to Viper."

"In the world," Kurt added.

"Both of you can shut the hell up," Logan growled out.

"Don't dish it if you can't take it," Kate muttered his way with a glare.

"Just don't want you makin' my mistakes," Logan shot back. "Or Jess's."

"Weren't you listening? I'm _not_!" Kate insisted. "I spent all day trying to get Viper to let K go, trying to avoid getting roped into the Board, _trying _to get _out _of this crummy — _ugh!_"

"And I thank you for tryin'," Logan finally allowed. "Say the word and I'll kill every damn one of 'em. Still ticked off at Fisk."

"I can't," Kate said, losing some of her fire as she shook her head. "I can't call a hit on them. On any of them."

"I didn't ask for money," Logan replied, in the most reasonable tone he'd used since she'd entered Scott's office.

"And the deal was clear: I can't interfere with, threaten, kill, move against them…"

"Good thing you're not me then," he countered. "Could maybe qualify as a rival thing."

"Ha ha." She rolled her eyes his way before she turned toward Scott. "I can give you the list of everyone on the Board, and Tony's working something up for me that I can wear to bug the next meeting," she said in a rush. "But until the Board is dissolved — or I can figure out how to get my name off of it — or ... whatever…." She shook her head. "I shouldn't be on the team."

Logan stared at her for a moment then simply started laughing as if it was the best joke he'd heard in ages.

"You're not resigning, Kate," Scott said, shaking his head at her.

"Just think about it for a minute," Kate said, glaring at Logan before she turned back to Scott. "I can't exactly work on a superhero team if I _can't fight supervillains_."

"What are you _talking _about?" Logan asked, wiping away tears. "Why the hell not?"

"Because I can't fight the bad guys," Kate said as if this was obvious.

"Is it a one-way contract?" Logan asked. "Or can none of the Board cross the others? Because I think … if you quit trying to _quit, _you can use it against them too. And yes. You can fight bad guys."

"No one on that Board is someone the X-Men deal with as often as the Avengers or even the Defenders do," Scott pointed out.

"And my offer stands," Logan said, shaking his head with a smile. "Rival war. Right now. Say the word."

"Maybe after Noh works up something to make sure the kids are fine," Kate said. "But I don't…" She rubbed her face with both hands. "These guys … they tried to kill me and Clint. They _did _kill me. So much of what made me Hawkeye came from fighting them."

"So tell 'em you're with me and you can't stick to their dumb deal," Logan said with a wave.

"I … if I try to back out..." Kate hugged her arms at the elbows. "Masque alone would love to have another shot at me, and Kingpin scares the crap out of me, and Viper was asking me what I _weighed_." She shook her head. "I don't want to quit. I want to help take them down. I want to be off the Board because they don't _exist_."

"So do that then," Logan told her.

"But you don't have to quit the team," Scott said. He smirked Logan's way. "You wouldn't even be the only crime lord on the team."

"That's not funny," Kate grumbled. "I'm _not _a crime lord."

"No, but—" Scott gestured to Logan. "—have you met the Black Dragon?"

Kate turned to face Logan, her eyes narrowed. "What… like running Madripoor?"

"No. I've done that but not right now," Logan said, shaking his head. "Black Dragon's a temporary position. I've only been stuck with it since the 50's. San Francisco."

"Oh yeah. So temporary." Kate rolled her eyes. "What, you can't just quit? Talk about hypocritical."

"Can't hand it off, and they gotta beat me. So far, the only ones that have tried have been drug runners and people tryin' to sell kids. So, no. I'm not lettin' that happen. Besides, I killed the damn dragon that lived under the city. Makes it harder to hand off the title."

"And Logan's still on the team," Scott said, leaning back with a smirk. "So, no. Your Board membership isn't enough to merit getting kicked off the team."

Kate looked between the three X-Men in the room and narrowed her eyes.

"Unless you really are evil now. Just breathin' the same air as them," Logan said under his breath, just loud enough for Kate to hear and for Kurt to quickly cover his mouth with his hand to keep from laughing outright.

Kate leveled her finger at Kurt. "You orchestrated this. _You're _the evil one."

He tried to look shocked, but he was smiling too hard to totally pull it off. "I … I simply got him here for his briefing."

"You're lying to me," she said, still with her finger leveled his way. "Through. Your. Teeth."

"Terrible liar," Logan said, shaking his head.

"Not even passable," Scott agreed.

Kurt shrugged lightly. "It has to come out sometimes," he said.

A little bamf appeared a moment later, using both hands to support a drippy, double chocolate chunk ice cream cone in front of Kate with a muted and slightly strained little 'bamf?'

Kate totally melted when she saw the little guy and pulled him into a hug to kiss his cheek, plucking the ice cream cone out of his hands. "You are — you have perfect timing."

He giggled at her and started chattering to inform her that Jessica and K were still joking around with their ice cream in the med bay.

"Well, that sounds more fun than being lied to by my husband and lectured at by my teammates. Let's go there," Kate said with a nod and a smirk over the bamf's head at the other three before she and the bamf disappeared to join the ladies.


	6. Preemptive Strokes

**Chapter 6: "Preemptive Strokes"**

Krissy and Sying were seated side by side on the wall overlooking the mansion lawn, watching as Noh and Tony worked on the security setup. It had been about a week since the incident with Viper and the Board, and the two men had been working nonstop to make sure no one could get to the kids. Now, it was finally ready for the final tests and installation.

The kids each had ice cream cones dripping over their fingers in the mid July heat. Krissy was kicking her feet over the edge of the wall, looking down at Noh as he lay on his stomach, doing something complicated with wires and technology that she didn't understand but that Sying seemed to follow okay.

"Dad's using psionic circuits," Sying explained brightly.

"I don't know what that means," Krissy said, wrinkling her nose at her friend.

"Okay… well." Sying held out one hand as if he was trying to work out where to start. "So... you know what psychics are?"

"Rachel is one, right?"

"Sorta." Sying shrugged. "Anyway… it just means she uses mind powers. And my dad's technology can do the same thing."

"So it's psychic."

"No…" Sying shook his head. "No, that's not—"

"If your dad's ship has mind powers, it's psychic."

Sying threw his hands up in the air. "No… _psionic_! It means it can — it's like technology that has emotions!"

"Oh." Krissy wrinkled her nose. "Okay."

Sying shook his head at her. "Really, you should come see my dad's ship. There's a big computer on it; you can learn a lot."

"I don't really like school," Krissy said, wrinkling her nose. "I like Miss Annie, but I'd rather go shooting and learn swords with my dad."

Sying shrugged. "I like learning stuff," he said.

Noh finished what he was doing and stood up, brushing his hands off on his knees. "And you're a fast learner," he said, reaching over to boop Sying on the nose as Sying looked totally scandalized.

"Da-a-a-d."

Noh chuckled and shook his head as he moved further down the wall, continuing the setup, and Krissy giggled as she watched Noh go past. "It's okay to get your nose booped."

"He only does it to _little _kids," Sying grumped.

"You're only _almost _seven," Krissy said. "You're littler than me."

"Nu-uh."

"You're supposed to be smart," she teased him. "Don't you know October is _after _August?"

Sying rolled his eyes and decided not to argue the point as Tony came up to where Noh was and the two men shared a quick conversation in low tones before they called for the rest of the adults to come out so they could show off their new security system.

Krissy and Sying shared grins and then climbed down the wall together, running over to be where the excitement was as Scott, Logan, and both of Krissy's parents came out to see what Noh and Tony had cooked up.

"So," Tony said with a crooked grin once he had his audience. "Your security advisor here had this place pretty well set up so no one could get on the grounds, but this little baby—" He patted the master control for the system, a hardly noticeable little box in the wall that looked like it belonged with the rest of the stones. "—will make sure the bad guys won't even get a _look _at anyone on these grounds."

"That would be nice," Kate said with a little nod.

Noh grinned widely. "It's quite the feat of Kree-Terran engineering," he said, and there was no mistaking the pride in his voice. "A combination of Iron Man's holographic technology and my own psionic technology — it will fool both the naked eye and any earthly technological surveillance."

"Show me," Scott said, tipping his head toward the controls.

Noh glanced over at the two kids who had come to watch the show and smiled their way. "Sying, why don't you and Krissy play in the yard?"

"We want to see the new thing you made," Krissy said, her arms crossed.

"Why don't I show you after I show your parents how it works?" Noh offered, and Krissy considered him for a long time, her arms still crossed, her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed.

"_Fine_," she said at last, tossing her hair over her shoulder before she grabbed onto Sying's hand and halfway dragged him over to the middle of the lawn — though it wasn't long before the two of them were giggling and playing all the same.

In the meantime, Tony and Noh had brought the adults to the other side of the mansion wall, and while the system was turned off, they could see Krissy chasing Sying, clearly telling him off for something or other — and a moment later, the only thing they could see was an empty lawn.

Kurt leaned forward, eyebrows raised, until he was practically leaning over the wall, but he couldn't see the kids until he teleported to the inside — and then teleported back to the other side of the wall, shaking his head. "And this will work on cameras and surveillance?" he asked Tony.

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Tony asked, sounding almost insulted not to be believed.

"The hologram shifts depending on the weather and season," Noh added. "It uses live feeds from the lawn and converts them so that anyone looking in would have no reason to suspect anything amiss.

"What about from above?" Logan asked as he and Scott started to try and find angles to look in.

"Please," Tony said, waving a hand. "The system extends above the house and goes in all directions. If I did a flyby, even I wouldn't be able to see onto the grounds."

"So a more advanced version of what we used to use while we'd rebuild," Scott said, almost to himself.

"Forge did send me blueprints of that, yes," Noh said with a nod. "We thought it would be best to build on existing infrastructure." He gestured toward the still empty-looking lawn. "But you can see for yourself: _no one _will be able to even know who is home, let alone get to any of our loved ones."

"Won't do much good if they don't see anything but can hear people inside though," Scott said.

Noh laughed lightly. "Can you hear anyone?" he asked, though he didn't give Scott enough time to listen before he held up a hand. "Here — let me show you." With that, he climbed over the wall, disappearing once he was past the point of the holographic psionic projectors, and only reappearing a while later with a crooked grin.

"Wolverine, can you hear anything?" he asked, knowing it would be best if he addressed the most sensitive ears in the group.

Logan tipped his head and waited for a minute. "No."

Noh grinned brilliantly before he nodded to Tony, who stepped through the gate and switched off the system. As soon as it shut off, the entire group was treated to a six-year-old elfling standing on top of the wall singing songs from _Moana_ at the top of her lungs.

Noh grinned even wider. "Thank you, Krissy."

"I can sing louder," she said, grinning delightedly as her tail swished almost lazily behind her.

"You're doin' fine, little darlin'," Logan called back to her.

Krissy beamed as Kurt picked her up and rubbed noses with her, praising her singing skills. Noh turned to the gathered group. "The only thing that we can't _quite _mask entirely is scent," he admitted to Logan. "We can trick the mind into thinking nothing is there, but scent is so tied in to memory and instinct that it's hard to mask entirely."

"That makes sense," Logan said with a nod. "It was the hardest to work into the Danger Room too."

Noh nodded. "It's still going to be difficult for anyone who comes looking — with their mind telling them one thing and their nose another. But it's the most comprehensive system possible, and anyone with that kind of scent ... well. We're already keeping that kind of trouble out with the rest of the security."

"Except in those cases, anyone looking will follow their instincts, not their eyes," Logan said. "But it'll probably work for now. Keep a bamf with 'em while they play outside just in case."

"The bamfs already can't leave the kids alone," Kate pointed out with a little smile. "They learned _all _about protective drives from their big brother," she added, punching Kurt in the shoulder.

Sying climbed over the side of the wall after Krissy and dangled his legs over the outside, watching the adults with his head tipped to the side. "So," he said, "are we gonna set this stuff up at the other schools too?"

"Would you like to help?" Noh offered.

Sying tipped his head further to the side and then looked between Noh and Krissy. "Maybe… if it doesn't take _too _long," he said slowly.

"It won't take long at all," Noh promised. "The only reason we took so long this time is we were finishing up a few last tests."

Sying broke into a grin. "Can you show me how you used the ana ... analytic drive?" he asked, pausing to make sure he remembered it right.

Noh picked him up and tossed him in the air. "Of course."

Krissy giggled and squirmed for Kurt to let her down. "Sying is weird," she told him.

"Just like his dad," Kate said with a smirk.

"Must be something Hawks see in them," Scott teased quietly.

"Can't be so," Kate shot back without hesitating. "I snagged an Elf, mister."

"After you made _friends _with the Bug Boy," Logan added.

"He's not a bug — he's a Kree," Krissy said with her hands on her hips. "Du-u-h. Even _I _know that."

"You only know part of it, Sassbox," Logan told her.

"Nu-uh. I know lots of things," Krissy said.

"But," Logan said, snatching her up and tossing her high in the air, "not everything."

"_Almost _everything," she insisted.

"Not yet you don't."

"I will someday!" she said. "I'll know all about _important _things, anyway. Like swords and pirates and singing."

"Yes, those are the most important things in life," Noh said with a smirk Kate's way.

"You're just saying that because she put music on there."

"She's a smart girl."

Kate rolled her eyes at her friend before she scooped Krissy up. "Come on, honey. Let's go practice with your bow, huh? You're going to be the prettiest Hawkeye in the world."

* * *

As the end of the month came up, K was surprised when Annie pulled her aside after the annual poolside planning party, smiling widely.

"Please don't tell me you're on Kate's side," K said before Annie could get into anything.

"What?" Annie blinked at her.

"Pre-emptive strike," K told her as she set down the root beer float.

Annie glanced at the float and waved her hand. "Kate's convinced you're craving, but _I _remember that you didn't eat anything. But please, keep eating my cooking," she teased.

"Oh, good," K said with a grin. "She mentioned it just before the little Viper fiasco, so I thought I'd follow through and see how far it'll go before she says anything."

"Well, you picked an interesting time to do it. She's a bit distracted," Annie pointed out, then took a deep breath. "Which is why… I was hoping to borrow you for a shopping trip."

"Sure thing," K replied. "What are we doing?"

Annie beamed. "Well… Scott and I are coming up on ten years," she said. "I know he's already made arrangements for an Alaskan cruise but… I wanted to find something nice." She tucked her hair behind her ears. "But you know how he gets about my going anywhere alone, especially after that whole thing with Mojo."

"Yeah, he deserves something nice. Are you going romantic or sweet — or both?"

"Yes," Annie said with a smile. "Either will do, or both. I already asked Spiderman to work on a ten-year album, but I wanted a little more… maybe a book…"

"Well, what's the tenth supposed to be?" K asked.

"Beyond just a step into the double digits?" she laughed.

"Guess I'm just old-fashioned," K replied with a shrug. "It _used _to be traditional to stick with a theme … paper, wood, that kind of thing."

Annie laughed. "Well, we're going out to sea... oh! Do you think we could find a mariner's box to put the pictures and things in?"

"I don't see why not," K agreed.

"He likes to fish too. We could find something like that…." Annie trailed off, her eyes sparkling as she seized K's hand. "Come on. Let's just find something wonderful. I already arranged for Jubilee to watch the kids."

"We could just get a really big red bow and you can wear it for him," K offered.

Annie laughed. "It's a ten-year anniversary. I want to do something bigger than that. We don't always get to have big trips like this."

"Then a small bow …"

Annie rolled her eyes, still pulling K along for the ride. "Come on. I'll drive."

"Like hell you will. Let me drive you while you brainstorm," K offered.

"Then I'm driving home," Annie countered. "It's my shopping trip!"

"Fine with me. Logan's jeep, though. Convertible."

"Fine with me," Annie laughed as the two ladies headed to the garage.

As it turned out, Logan was there, working on his bike, but he barely blinked as K stole a kiss and picked his pocket for the keys, not coming anywhere close to trying to be sneaky about it either. "Don't wait up," she told him as Annie climbed in and the pair of them headed out.

They went through a few stores before Annie found what she was looking for, but after a couple of hours, they'd found a beautiful wooden box as well as an empty mariner's notebook that Annie planned to use to write down memories from the last ten years.

K was smirking Annie's way as it was obvious that she was tickled with her finds, and while Annie checked out, K started poking around the antique store, amused at some of the findings … nothing she'd pick up, but then again, a lot of the stuff in the shop wasn't anywhere near old enough for her to consider 'antiques'.

With the bag clutched to Annie's chest, the two women stepped outside and started to head toward the next shop. "Just because I heard this shop has great tiramisu, and Kate would lose her mind if we came back with some," K insisted. But before they could get all the way down to the bakery, K stopped, having caught a familiar scent.

She'd just barely turned her head all the way before she spotted him — and there was no way that he hadn't seen them. "Annie," K said, reaching out to touch the little brunette's arm as Creed headed right for them at an easy pace that screamed that he had all day long to deal with them.

Annie froze, her eyes wide as she latched onto K's arm when she saw the unmistakable, overly large form. "I'll call home," she said softly, already reaching for the comm that Scott had given her before she left — to hit the distress beacon.

"Good," K said, not taking her eyes off of Creed as she pushed Annie to move. "Keep moving. Normal pace. _Do not run._"

Annie looked stressed but nodded all the same, sticking close behind K the entire time and half holding her breath. "Alright."

They didn't even get to the end of the block before Kurt and Logan appeared not ten feet ahead of them, but when Creed snarled, Logan just smirked Creed's way, took K's hand, and disappeared with Kurt, the girls, and the flock of bamfs Kurt had brought with them. "I think that Jeep's going to be a write off," Logan said when they reappeared at the mansion. "You girls alright?"

"Perfectly fine," K answered before she gave him a quick kiss. "Are you two going back?"

"Nope. No reason to make a public mess on his account," Logan said, shaking his head. "He'll just use bystanders to be a pain if we show up again."

Annie looked between the two Howletts with wide eyes before she clutched her shopping bag to herself and let out a breath. "Well. That… that was not how I was expecting that trip to go," she said, squeezing Kurt's arm. "Thanks."

"Sorry about that; I wasn't really expecting it either, Annie," K told her, looking honestly put out. "We were just getting to the fun part too."

"The part where the shopping is done?" Annie teased lightly.

"Yes, that part," K said, finally giving her a little smile. "And the part where we celebrated a successful, trouble-free trip. _So close_."

"Next time," Annie promised. "I'm sure it was just a matter of time with that imbecile anyway."

"Oh, definitely," K agreed. "If you wouldn't have been with me, I would have tried to tag him. Narrow down the number of rocks he might be hiding under."

"You'll find the right rock soon, I'm sure," Annie said with a smile.

"He's got over a dozen of them that I've found so far," K pointed out. "I just don't want to go wandering into any of them unless I think he'll be there."

"And in the meantime, ignoring him seems to be working perfectly fine," Kurt said with a little smirk.

"Yeah, he was charging by the time we 'ported outta there," Logan said somberly. "Can't take it."

"Kinda wanna go sit out front and wait to see if he's going to try to come say hi," K added.

"Test out your adoptive son's newest toy in the process?" Annie said with a smile.

"Couldn't hurt," K said, smiling. "Go. Wrap your stuff — and hide it. Yours seems like the type to peek."

"Scott?" Annie laughed. "Please. Why do you think yours calls mine a boy scout?"

"I would want to test the boundaries of that," K told her, her arms crossed over her chest. "Leave it in the bag. Don't wrap it. Just fold it over so it's totally covered and tell him not to look. Challenge."

Annie laughed. "No, I'm going to wrap it." She stuck her finger out at K. "And before you say anything, I'm more worried about Charlie than Scott. She's turned into a romantic lately and loves to snoop in other people's relationships."

"Well!" K said in her most scandalized tone. "She certainly didn't get it from her father, did she?"

"I'm going to blame him anyway," Annie laughed.


	7. You Promised

**HEY! So this is a good chapter and you should totally read it. You know what else is good? The real life book that me and CC just published. It's called "The Last Blaze" and we're writing under a pseudonym (C. C. Robbie, because we are dorks.) We just published it, and we're SUPER PSYCHED ABOUT IT.**

* * *

**Chapter 7: "You Promised"**

As the beginning of August rolled around, so did Scott and Annie's anniversary, and the two of them stole away for a full ten days' cruise to mark the celebration.

Of course, Annie couldn't help but notice that for someone who was supposed to be on an anniversary cruise, Scott had come onto the ship a little nervy — though she couldn't blame him, considering all the threats that had been made against them and their friends lately.

Still, they were _supposed _to be relaxing, so she slipped behind him and slid her arms around his middle to rest her head on his back. "You do know that our friends can take care of themselves, don't you?"

He let out a breath and rested his hand on her arms. "Yeah."

"And we've got our comms — we both know better than to go anywhere without them — so _why _are you worried?"

Scott turned around to raise a single eyebrow at her.

She laughed. "Alright, you can stop that for ten days, can't you?" she teased. "We only get one tenth anniversary, Mr. Summers."

He smirked at that and let out a breath as he turned and kissed her. "That's true," he admitted.

She smiled and pulled him into their cabin as the ship left the dock headed deeper into the Alaskan waters. "At least let me show you what it was that I was shopping for when K and I ran into that _idiot_," she said, and though Scott frowned the slightest bit at the reference to Creed, he couldn't help but smirk at the _way _she referred to him. Clearly, he'd made her mad enough to earn a "that" title.

She went to her suitcase to pull out the wrapped box and hand it to him, and he in turn looked through his case for a much smaller box. She smiled as she popped open the jewelry box, and then she let out a little "oh!" as she saw the gorgeous, sapphire-studded ring.

"They, ah, the sapphires are supposed to be for ten years," Scott explained, and she leaned over to kiss him delightedly.

"You are a sweetheart," she told him.

He grinned at her as he pulled the last of the wrapping off of the antique box and then raised an eyebrow before he opened it to find the album Peter had prepared for her as well as the pages and pages of handwritten memories from the day they met until the day she packed the box.

He looked up at her with a perfectly open expression that turned into a slow grin as he settled back on the couch in the cabin to read through the memories, and Annie rested her chin on his shoulder and looked through the photo album, distracted by the new glittering ring on her right hand every time she turned a page.

* * *

While Scott and Annie were gone, though, there was an incredibly important birthday. They had celebrated Cody's birthday before they left, a few days early, but on the day itself…

"Logan!" Cody was up early, knocking on the Howlett's door with bright, wide eyes.

"Come on in," Logan called out, still half awake and overly comfortable with K.

Cody let himself in, grinning excitedly as he all but skipped over to where Logan and K were. "Guess what!" he said happily. "Today is my birthday!"

"Yes it is," he agreed. "Happy early in the morning birthday."

"Do you know how _old I am_?" Cody said, missing the early morning reference entirely in his excitement.

"At least a hundred years younger than me."

Cody laughed. "No, silly, I'm _five_!" He held up his hand to show off five fingers.

"You're a whole handful," Logan agreed with a little smirk.

"Mmmhmm." He bounced on his feet. "And my dad said when I'm five I can go to karate with the older kids."

"Yeah, but your dad's not here right now, kiddo."

Cody let out a long sigh and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but he _said_ I could start — and I'm _five _now!"

"I get that," Logan said, moving over so he could sit up and make sure Cody knew he had his full attention. "But I make sure everyone has a mom or dad around for the first lesson anyhow."

Cody tipped his head back and let out a long groan. "But they're gonna be gone _forever_."

"No, they won't," Logan promised. "They just went away to kiss for a while where you don't have to watch it."

Cody rolled his eyes. "Right, yeah, cuz Charlie _told them to_."

"Honey, they were gonna do that anyhow," K told him. "Do you want me to make you something special this morning?"

Cody seemed to think about it for a second before he finally nodded. "Okay, I _guess_, but as soon as Mom and Dad get home, I'm gonna learn karate, okay?" he said, leveling his finger at Logan and looking like he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"You can try out the ghee first," Logan said. "That's the white thing your brother is always running around in."

"Oooh." Cody broke into a huge smile. "Can I _please_? Since I'm five now? Please?"

Logan turned to K, and she gave him a kiss before positively pushing him out of bed. "Yes. You can," she told him, settling back in. "I'll make breakfast after you get your ghee."

* * *

When Scott and Annie returned from the Alaskan cruise — grinning and tanned — they were almost immediately greeted by a white-clad little boy in a karate uniform.

"You're home! Yay! Now I can go to my first lesson!" Cody declared, already pulling on Scott's hand to try to get him to move faster. "Logan let me wear my uniform; isn't it cool?"

"Ohmigod," Jubilee said, stepping around the corner and looking a bit frazzled. "He has been like this since his birthday. Non. Stop."

Annie was sure to wrap Jubilee up in a hug while Scott told Cody how amazing he looked. "Thank you for watching him anyway," she said. "We'll return the favor anytime." Her eyes sparkled with mischief as she added, "Besides, isn't your tenth next summer?"

"Yes," Jubilee replied, brushing her hair back out of her face. "And payback, Old Fearless, is a real thing."

"If I'd known it was going to be this bad, I would have made sure to schedule the trip after his first lesson," Scott said with a smirk as Cody resumed trying to pull him out of the room.

"The others weren't horrible for you, were they?" Annie asked as she watched the two Summers boys leave.

"The others have been learning trick riding on their ponies with K," Jubilee told her. "They've been having a horseback riding camp. Complete with cowboy campouts under the stars."

Annie beamed at that. "Oh, I'll bet Chance loves that. He loves Old Westerns."

"He got all excited when Charlie told him that the shooting off horseback was fake, and K and Logan both promised him it wasn't." Jubilee said. "She's got them doing little obstacle courses on horseback, and she said if he was still interested when he was older, she'd show him how to do the shooting too."

"Oh, that sounds like fun," Annie laughed. "Is Kate getting involved too?"

"Kate … is frustrated at Logan for being as good at it as he is. He's telling her Hawkeye isn't anything on horseback."

"Well, he ain't a Hawkeye," Annie chuckled. "It's a point of pride."

"No, but he _is _a samurai, and that's part of what he had to do." Jubilee shook her head. "You should go watch. They are ridiculous."

"I'm sure they are," Annie said with a little smirk. "And I'm sure the kids are too."

"I know they won't say no to another rider if you want to play — just talk Cody into going with too, please?"

"I think he's already dragging Scott into karate," Annie pointed out with a laugh as she headed toward the door.

"Well, he's going to have to get Logan off the horse first."

Annie kept her arm around Jubilee's shoulders as they headed toward the barn. "I'm just glad that they have so many things that they can do to occupy their time. With all the security worries, I was worried myself they might get bored cooped up here."

When the two women got down to where K was training the kids on their ponies, it was exactly as Jubilee had described it — with all of the kids who were old enough laughing and riding around. All of the older kids, including James, had ponies, with Kari — the youngest in the group — riding with K and grinning delightedly whenever K would do something showy with her horse.

And, of course, Logan and Kate were further out, tearing across the field in what was obviously a race — because nothing competitive with the two of them could keep from escalating.

"Don't mind those two," K called Annie's way. "If they get too stupid, I'll have the kids dismount and smoke both of 'em."

"I never do," Annie teased. "You'll probably see Cody pretty soon here anyway — he's looking for Logan now that we're home."

"For karate," Kari giggled. "That's what he says _all _the time."

"Well, he's excited," K said. "Do you want to show Annie how we bow?" K couldn't help but smile as Kari giggled harder, nodding wordlessly as K rode over to the fence and switched places with the little elfling so that Kari was in the saddle and K was just behind it. She had both arms around her as they headed to the center of the ring where the others were still riding around the edge. "Okay kids … everyone halt." When they all did as she asked, she whispered to Kari to hold on to the saddle horn before she clicked just so and gathered up her reins. The gelding they were riding tucked his chin, rounded his back, and then jigged for a moment before he popped up on his back feet, one front foot extended almost straight out for an instant. When his front feet hit the ground, she gave him another quick signal, and he tucked both front feet under him and rested his nose almost to his elbow in a deep bow.

Annie clapped as Kari giggled, and she leaned over the fence. "That was impressive!"

"Wait until she learns how to present him properly," K told her with a smile.

"Kari likes to do tricks," Chance said with a grin. "I can do some cool ones too! Like cowboys and Indians!"

"Well, not all the horses know how to do all the tricks Tex does," K pointed out.

"Not all the horses are _dramatic_," Sying laughed.

"Nah, he just has a sweet tooth," Elin said, already pulling out the treats they always gave the horses.

Annie was still grinning as Scott and Cody finally made their way down — with Cody on Scott's shoulders looking out for Logan.

"As always, listen for the screaming," K advised Scott. Sure enough, it was clear where Kate and Logan were, if not for the thundering hooves, then by Kate clearly upset as Logan was leaning far over from his horse at a dead run, pulling at the strap that held Kate's saddle on.

Kate kicked Logan, but he didn't care in the least, laughing at her with a wild grin, and a moment later, Kate pulled her horse to a stop and started chewing him out for cheating.

Scott smirked at the scene. "It's always more fun from the other side," he said, shaking his head before he turned to K, jostling Cody on his shoulders slightly. "The kids behaving for you?"

"We _always _behave!" Charle said as if she couldn't believe that her father would think anything else.

"I know you do," Scott said with a little smile.

"Did you and Mom have a good cruise?" Charlie asked, grinning widely as she brought her pony closer to the fence to talk to her parents.

"Of course," Scott said, grinning Annie's way.

Kate came riding up to join the group, pushing her hair out of her face and still shooting glares at Logan as he joined them as well. "Welcome back, you two," she said.

"It's been quite the welcome," Annie laughed lightly — and laughing harder still when Cody leaned _way _over Scott's shoulder trying to catch Logan's attention, waving his hand.

"Logan, Logan! Dad's here so we can do karate now. You _said_!"

Scott smirked Logan's way. "Has he been like this the whole time?"

"_Allllll _the time," Kari supplied helpfully.

Logan smirked up at the excited little boy "Alright. I guess we can do a little jiu jitsu."

"No!" Cody shouted, wide-eyed and looking upset. "Karate!"

"Right. Something like that," Logan said before he dismounted and handed K his reins and a kiss. "Gotta go work on our Taekwondo."

"Karate!" Cody argued, though Scott was chuckling as Cody insistently pulled on Logan's arm, looking at him as if he was senile. "Don't you _remember? _It's karate!"

"Oh. Sure. That," Logan said, and K started laughing at Cody's exasperated groan as Logan looked up at Scott on the way out. "Do we know karate?"

"Oh good," Krissy said, letting out a long and dramatic sigh as she leaned forward on her pony. "He's been _pouting _for _days_."

"And they say the Wagner girls are dramatic," Kate laughed.

"Yeah, but we kind of are," Krissy pointed out, and Chance snorted out a laugh at that.

"Kind of?"

"It has to come out _sometime_," Krissy said, drawing herself up and doing a perfect imitation of her father.

"You say that about everything," Chance teased.

"That's 'cause it works for everything," Krissy said in a matter-of-fact tone, her shoulders drawn back regaly.

Chance rolled his eyes as K had the kids dismount — after a while of riding, it was time for the horses _and _the kids to take a break. "If you say so."

"I do say so."

Elin rolled her eyes at the pair of them. "You're both ridiculous."

"C'mon, El," Chance said, grinning widely at her as he bumped her shoulder with his. "Isn't your mom the one who always says that you gotta tease people to show 'em you care?"

"I thought you just liked kisses," Charlie called out to her brother, grinning crookedly as Chance gave her a dry, dry look.

"I do," Chance said, shrugging lightly. "I also like teasing. I can do both!"

Kate laughed and leaned over to Annie. "Your kid is a flirt."

Annie leaned over as well with a twinkle in her eyes. "We've known that since he was a baby."

"Well, at least you're prepared," Kate teased before she crouched down to pick up Kari and hoist her up onto her hip. "C'mon. I'm pretty sure there's pretzels and popcorn inside for everybody to snack on."


	8. Broken-Hearted Half-Kree

**Chapter 8: "Broken-Hearted Half-Kree"**

School was nearly ready to start up again, and a few of the Westchester students were starting to come back from summer vacations. But that also meant that Jubilee and Noh had headed back to LA for their own school semesters to start.

So Kate had noticed that Krissy was pouting a little more than usual, and she pulled aside the little purple elfling to pull her up onto her lap. "What's wrong, princess?" she teased.

"I liked having all my friends here," Krissy pouted, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I know you do," Kate said, pulling Krissy in to kiss her cheek. "You're just like me; I like having all my friends together too. Why do you think I like throwing parties?"

"Because parties are fun?"

"Well, yes, that too," Kate said, laughing at her little girl's honestly.

"Can we have another party soon?" Krissy asked hopefully. "And invite Sying? And Gerry? And Sam?"

"We'll invite everyone for your birthday in a couple weeks, okay?" Kate offered, and Krissy beamed and clapped her hands together before she threw her arms around Kate's neck.

"_Danke, _Mama!"

"_Bitte_," she said, kissing the top of Krissy's head. "Now, shouldn't you be going to the Danger Room to meet up with your father?"

Krissy nodded. "Are you gonna watch our lesson again?"

"Of course," Kate laughed. "How else am I going to know when your papa is done with his lesson so I can sword fight with him?"

Krissy giggled. "_Ja_! I like when you and Papa get to do sword fighting!"

Kate leaned in and rubbed noses with the little purple elfling. "I do too," she whispered in a teasing tone before she set the excited little girl down so that Krissy could head off toward the Danger Room.

Kate had every intention to follow her, too, but while she'd been talking with Krissy, she had spotted Scott headed her way. So, as soon as her little girl was out of earshot, she took in the look on Scott's face and the fact that he had an envelope in his hand and sighed. "Well, it's been long enough," she said as she held out her hand for what she knew had to be an invitation to a Board meeting — since she'd already been to the bank for the monthly 'dues,' so it couldn't be that kind of reminder.

"Logan checked it, just to be sure," Scott told her as he sat down next to her, still wearing that same frown.

"I appreciate it," Kate said quietly as she opened up the invitation. It was exactly the same as the one Wesley had handed to her before, though of course, this one had come to her by mail. The address on the invitation was a building she could see from her office at Bishop Publishing — which she was sure couldn't be a coincidence. "It's not until the first of the month," she said, not sure if she was relieved or if she preferred to just get this over with.

"You're all set up with Stark's spy tech?" Scott asked.

Kate smiled — she really did appreciate that Scott was looking out for her. "Yeah, I've been set up for a while now. We weren't sure when they'd come calling again," she said, turning the invitation over and over in her hands.

"Noh offered to take the kids into orbit in his ship," Scott said, this time with a little smirk. "Just in case you wanted a little extra insurance on their security while you're at this meeting."

Kate had to match his smirk as she shook her head. "He's a good friend… and it's really not a bad idea," she admitted.

"That's what I thought," Scott said. "The new security system is great, but—"

"—but if the Board doesn't go down like we hope and tries to retaliate, it won't matter if they can't see anyone if they're just going for an explosion or something," Kate finished for him. "Not like they haven't tried to blow me up before. And succeeded."

"They _won't _succeed again," Scott said, looking entirely serious.

Kate gave him a little smile. "Yeah, love you too, boss man," she teased lightly before she took a deep breath and folded the invitation to put it in her back jeans pocket. "I'll be honest, these guys always freak me out. I mean ... I run with the X-Men. I've seen the worst kind of crazy, aliens… and this stupid Board is the one that gives me the late night shakes."

"It's worse when it's personal," Scott said, nodding lightly.

Kate took a deep breath and then got to her feet. "Thanks, Scott," she said.

"The team's going to be behind you, Kate," Scott said as he got to his feet as well. "We've got your back." He couldn't help but smirk as he added, "That's one of the perks of still being an X-Man."

"I get it, boss man. I _got _it the first time," Kate said, rolling her eyes.

Scott just chuckled. "It bears repeating."

Kate rolled her eyes one more time for emphasis before she paused on her way toward the hall. "Krissy's birthday is the day before this invite," she said.

"The kids'll be there," Scott said.

She laughed and nodded. "They better be. She's already becoming a little party-planner."

"I'm not sure which of her parents that's more like," Scott teased.

"See ya later, boss man," Kate said, shaking her head and laughing as she headed down to catch up with the rest of her family — since Kari and Kaleb liked to watch the sword fighting as well.

* * *

At the very end of August was Krissy's seventh birthday party, and of course, like Kate had promised, she got to invite all her friends from the different schools. Not only Sying but also Gerry and Sam and Alex — and, of course, everyone in the Westchester school was there too.

When Sying arrived, it was to find Chance with his chin resting on the table glaring toward the group, and he climbed up next to the older boy with his head tipped to the side. "What's going on?" he asked, and Chance just gestured toward the girls in their friend group.

It was easy to tell what had _Chance _upset, since Alex hadn't left Elin alone since he arrived, trying to make up for having broken her arm the last time they got together. The little boy was all but tripping over himself to make sure Elin was having a good time.

And then there was Sam — and he was the one that had _Sying _falling into a glare when he realized that Krissy was letting him hold her hand as they playing pin the tail on the donkey in between turns. "How long has that been going on?" he asked Chance, who just grumbled some more under his breath.

"Ever since they got here."

"Hey guys," K said, crouching down behind the pair of them. "How are you two holding up?"

Sying picked his head up and sighed, since Chance was just pouting. He gestured toward where Krissy and Sam were still — _still _— holding hands. "See, Grammy K. I told you."

"Well," K replied, tipping her head to the side, "you're all little. She's just having a good time with someone new. She'll get bored of him before you know it." She turned his way, looking up at him from where she was crouched. "He's not very interesting."

Sying pushed his lower lip out in a pout. "But I am learning how to sail."

"Yes, and later, you can help me pirate a little bit, okay?" K offered. "But for now, why don't you meet some of the new kids too and have a little fun? Both of you."

Chance picked up his head at that and glared K's way. "I already met everybody."

She turned toward him and tapped him on the nose. "You look. _So much_. Like your dad when he's grumpy. Stop that or I'll throw you in the pool."

"I'm not wearing my swimsuit right now," Chance pointed out.

"Neither am I, but I'll cannonball in there with you."

Chance started to grin as he considered it before he nodded and held up one hand. "O-kay, but I wanna change _first_. I don't like wet socks."

She let out a full body sigh. "Fine. I will too. Soggy boots are no fun," she agreed, pulling up her jeans to reveal her cowboy boots.

Chance grinned before he hopped down to go change into his swimsuit, calling over his shoulder, "Hey! Anybody wanna go swimming?" as he did so.

Which was how a whole bunch of little kids all ended up out at the pool, giggling and splashing around — and as promised, K cannonballed with Chance, who was now more excited by the idea than anything else.

"That's cheating," Krissy told Chance as she swam up to him and K.

"No," K told her as the two of them smiled in the center of the pool. "It's a pirate party, right? There should be cannonballs. Ask your dad, the first mate."

"Umm, my papa is the _captain_," Krissy said.

"Not on _my _ship," K argued.

"It's _my _birthday," Krissy shot right back.

"Well then, I guess _you're _the captain today," K reasoned.

Krissy considered this with her head tipped to the side before she broke into a delighted laugh and nodded. "Okay, but that means it's not your ship, so ha!"

"Fine with me," K replied with a smirk. "But you gotta cannonball in, Captain Sassy-Pants."

Krissy considered this for a moment before she grinned. "Can you cannonball with me?" she asked. "I wanna make a big splash too."

"You got it," K replied, swimming with Chance to the edge before she pulled herself up. "Ready when you are, Cap'n."

Krissy giggled and climbed up with K, calling out for Gerry to "watch this!" before the big cannonball. She was already laughing by the time they surfaced again, shaking her hair out of her face. "I think that was bigger than yours, Chance!" she called out to him.

"Nuh-uh," he said, arms crossed and shaking his head. "I'm bigger than you."

"_I _use my tail to make bigger splashes," Krissy pointed out.

Chance shook his head. "Mine was still bigger."

Krissy narrowed her eyes, sized him up, and then smirked. "Auntie K, you gotta judge our cannonballs," she declared.

"I can't," K replied, swimming toward the edge where Elin was sitting. "Mine was bigger."

"Yeah, but we're judging me and Chance," Krissy insisted.

"Then you both need to do it again so I can see."

The two kids grinned, racing each other out of the pool to jump in, both of them trying to find the best, biggest splash — though Chance won when he untucked one leg and used it to displace more water that way.

"That's not a cannonball; that's a screwdriver," Gerry pointed out. "Awesome splash, though."

By that point, half of the kids were already climbing out of the pool to be part of the cannonball contest, which continued on until Scott came out with the hot dogs and burgers for the food — and ended when Kurt teleported right above the pool and dropped straight in, splashing all of the kids in sight.

The kids were all digging in, towels wrapped around themselves, and joking around when Gerry mentioned to his school friends that it was going to get silly now. "What with the cupcake kisses and all that silliness." Of course, seeing as none of his friends that had come had any idea what he was talking about, it was inevitable that one of them would misinterpret that. With a wide grin, Alex leaned over and stole a kiss from Elin, who just stopped and stared at him for a moment in shock.

"What was that for?" she asked, looking a little bit surprised.

"Cupcakes and kisses," he said with a grin, but she rolled her eyes and stood up.

"No," Elin said, shaking her head as she simply walked away, leaving Gerry to inform him of where he'd gone wrong.

"It's a silly thing for Valentine's cupcakes and really ridiculous X-kids," Gerry said. "That's what my mom and dad say, anyway."

"And it's not for _you_," Chance muttered under his breath, earning a look from Sying that was half apologetic.

"It's not silly," Krissy said, giggling. "You just get a cupcake, and if you kiss someone, they get icing on their face." Krissy snagged a cupcake from the tray Annie had prepared to demonstrate, taking a big bite and getting purple icing all over her face before she gave Sam a little kiss and grinned even wider when he started laughing too.

"Do I get a cupcake too?" Sam asked.

Krissy giggled. "If you wanna!"

"Would you look at that," K said, bumping Kurt's shoulder. "Chip off of old dad right there. Kiss first and ask questions later."

Kurt's tail was switching behind him as he shook his head. "No," he said quietly. "Wasn't she just turning down kisses and hugs yesterday?"

"No, no," K said, shaking her head. "She was looking for kisses and hugs yesterday too. Really looking forward to the party today … especially after hearing that _Sam _was going to be here."

Kate leaned over Kurt's shoulder, grinning widely. "I'm giving her a ride to Sam's house for a playdate in a couple weeks."

K let her mouth fall open in mock surprise. "Noooooooo. Are you … conspiring against my poor darling daddy? I thought you wanted to keep him around, not give him a cardiac arrest."

Kate rested her chin on Kurt's shoulder. "I'm easing him into the idea," she said. "Otherwise, you know she'd send him into shock when we were sending her off on a _real _date."

"Well, he did so well when I went off and got married," K teased.

"Special circumstances," Kurt said in a pretended gruff tone.

"That's code for 'he couldn't wait to marry me off to the old man he plays cards with'," K whispered. "I'll bet he lost me in a bet."

"That's exactly what happened," Kate laughed.

"It is not, and you both know it," Kurt said, shaking his head at the girls.

"It _is_, isn't it?" K said. "Oh. That's just … so wrong. You ran out of cash and betted me."

"Oh, come on. I thought we didn't want to give him a heart attack," Kate laughed.

"Doesn't count if he's the one that knew about the bet," K pointed out.

Kate laughed at that and kissed Kurt's cheek as she headed off to go scoop up Krissy so she could set her down in front of a cake and candles before she got too carried away with the cupcakes.

Meanwhile, Chance was scowling at the world in general when Elin came up behind him. "Can I sit with you?" she asked, with a cupcake in each hand. "I brought you one. If you want it."

Chance glanced up at Elin and frowned. "You don't wanna share it with Alex?"

"Um, no," she said, though she didn't sit down. "I can just go if you don't … want to share with me."

"No," Chance said quickly, sitting up a little straighter. "I just thought you wanted to sit with _him_."

"Why?" Elin asked. "Just because we were playing earlier?"

Chance let out a long sigh. "Well…." He put his chin down on his arms crossed in front of him. "Everybody likes the new kids."

"They're okay," Elin said, finally sitting down a few spaces over from him, pretty sure he was mad at her. "But they're only here for today."

"Yeah." He pulled his cupcake over to him and then smirked when he saw that it had red icing on it — one of the few that did, since Krissy's party was mostly purple. "Thanks for the cupcake, El."

"You're welcome," she replied, kicking her feet under the picnic table.

He paused, then held his hand with the cupcake in it out to her. "Wanna split it with me?"

"Are you sure?"

"Uh-huh," he said, nodding. "You want to split it with me? Because I wanna split it with you."

"Then … only if you wanna split mine too," she offered.

"Yes, please!" Chance said, grinning as he skipped over a couple of seats to sit next to her.

And while the rest of the partygoers were enjoying their cake, cupcakes, and party games, Sying had made his way over to where his mom was to sit next to her with his slice of cake — and one for her too.

"Hey, Mom," he said as he climbed up next to her. "Why do girls like some boys and not others?"

Jubilee frowned at the question. "It's … just a matter of taste, sweetheart."

Sying nodded as he thought it over and then shrugged as he took a bite of cake. "Well, how do you figure that out?"

She shook her head. "Sweetie, you don't figure that out. You just have to be yourself, and if they have any taste, they'll come to you."

"Well," Sying said slowly, "okay."

"But," Jubilee said slowly, watching Sying's expression carefully, "most girls don't get good taste until they're older. And some of them take _forever_."

"How much older?" Sying asked.

"Well... " Jubilee said, glancing around the party. "Kitty wasn't too old. She had pretty good taste when she was a teenager. And Kate was almost a teenager still when she met Kurt…. But your Grammy K was _really _old. It all depends."

Sying considered this for a while, working it out in his head. "Alright. That's… a lot of variables. And a long, long time."

She pulled him into a hug and kissed his temple. "It always seems longer when you're waiting for it," Jubilee promised.

"Grammy K and Grampa Wolvie told me to ask Krissy — and it didn't work," Sying reported.

"Yes, well … then listen to Grampa Wolvie and just keep asking."

Sying let out a sigh and looked toward where Krissy and Sam were sitting together and giggling, then shrugged. "Okay. I'm gonna get another piece of cake. Do you want one too?"

"Please," Jubilee replied, smiling his way as he hopped down to go grab them both some more sugar.

The kids were back to playing — a water balloon fight this time — when Jubilee headed over to see Kurt and broke into his charming story with a well-aimed paff to the side of his head. "We gotta talk, Elf."

Kurt raised both eyebrows before he teleported off with Jubilee around the corner of the mansion. "What's wrong, Jubilee?" he asked cautiously.

"I want you to watch the little darling boy over there and tell me what's wrong. I've tried explaining to him a dozen times _this week, _but his sweet little half-alien brain just doesn't get it."

Kurt looked toward Sying, who was sitting between Charlie and Gerry but didn't seem to be paying attention to what the two of them were doing — instead watching Krissy and Sam with a forlorn sort of expression. "Ah."

"He thinks something is _wrong _with him. And although I get it? You have to have a talk with that girl about how to be more gentle."

Kurt frowned but nodded all the same. "If I had my way, she wouldn't be kissing Sam either," he said with a small smile.

"Yeah, well, you don't," Jubilee said with a huff. "But that is definitely _your problem._"

Kurt sighed and reached over to hug Jubilee with one arm. "Yes, you're right, of course."

"It's not like you have _that _problem," Jubilee said with a smirk, gesturing to where Chance and Elin were curled up on the hammock — passed out asleep. "Elementary school and they already act like they're married most of the time."

"That," Kurt said with a smirk, "has been happening since they were born."

"True," she agreed. "But both of their dads seem to be handling it alright. So far."

"They know they have time before it becomes serious," Kurt chuckled.

"So then why are you so keyed up?" Jubilee said, bumping him gently.

Kurt chuckled. "With her parents? Can you blame me?" he teased. "I _am _rather dashing."

"What, you're under the delusion that Logan and K weren't with reps of their own?" Jubilee said.

Kurt waved a hand. "The point," he said, "is that I'll talk to Krissy about being a little more aware of how her actions affect others." He gave her a little squeeze and then smiled. "He's just as romantic as you are."

"Of course he is," Jubilee replied before she pointed a finger his way. "Don't make me paff you again. The next one will be set to stun."

"Hopefully, there won't be a next time." Kurt chuckled before he teleported himself and Jubilee back to the rest of the party.

By that time, things were winding down, and it wasn't long before the only ones left at the party were the kids who already lived there. Which meant it was the perfect time for Kurt to pull Krissy aside after her party to speak with her.

"Did you have a good time with your friends?" he asked, and she nodded enthusiastically.

"I always have fun with my friends!"

"All of them?" Kurt asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Mmmhmm!"

"Well…" He let out a sigh and scooped her up, teleporting up to the roof, which was their favorite place to talk. "Your friend Sying didn't have very much fun today at your party," he told her.

Krissy's entire expression fell. "Really? Why?"

"He came all the way from California to spend time with you, _liebling_. And you spent all your time with Sam."

Krissy frowned. "Oh. I was just playing!"

"Yes, but he wanted to play with you too," Kurt explained gently.

Krissy bit her lip. "Well… he got to play with all our other friends."

"But he didn't get to play with you, _schatzi_," Kurt explained. "And he thinks you don't want to play with him at all."

"That's not true!" Krissy said, wide-eyed. "I like playing with Sying!"

"Then you should tell him that," Kurt said.

Krissy nodded, her braids bouncing as she did, and Kurt smiled before he teleported both of them down to where Jubilee and Noh had been staying for the weekend for the party.

Sying was zipping around the room picking up his things and putting them in a suitcase when he heard the _bamf _and looked up to see Krissy standing there wide-eyed. "Are you leaving?" she asked.

He nodded. "I want to go home," he said, going back to what he was doing with a determined look on his face.

"But I didn't get to play with you!" Krissy blurted out, her eyes wider still.

"Yeah you did," Sying said as he shut his suitcase and then sat on it for good measure.

"Nu-uh," Krissy said, shaking her head. "We didn't get to play pirates in the Danger Room, and I like playing pirates when you come visit."

Sying looked between Krissy and Kurt for a long moment before he very slowly nodded. "Okay," he said. "We can play pirates."

"Great!" Krissy beamed delightedly before she ran over and hugged her friend. "I'm sorry I didn't play with you very much at my party. I didn't mean to not play with you! I was just having fun with Sam and didn't think anybody else was not having fun!"

Sying hugged her back for a second and then shook his head. "That's okay," he said. "We can play just us, right?"

"Mmmhmm!" She nodded and bounced a few times. "Nobody can sail like you and me can!"

"Well then, let's set up a pirate sim," Kurt said, teleporting the three of them to the Danger Room booth — though a sim was already running.

"Ooh, Grammy K and Grampa Wolvie beat us here," Sying said, looking over the edge to see K and Logan running a Sabretooth sim.

"I'm sure they won't mind sharing," Kurt said with a small smirk, especially since it looked like Logan and K were both wearing down already anyway. He went to the switchboard and hit the mic. "My mates and I are commandeering this here Danger Room," he declared.

"Ha!" K called back. "Come and take it from me, ya scurvy dog!"

Kurt grinned widely and hit the kill switch for the sim before teleporting down, scooping both Krissy and Sying up in the process so that Sying was riding on his shoulders and Krissy on his hip. "I think we three can take you," he teased.

"You can try," Logan replied, though Kurt couldn't quite place why the two of them were grinning like that after a Creed sim.

"Ooh, you should be careful," Krissy said, shaking her finger at Logan. "I'm a pirate captain today because it's my _birthday_, so people gotta do what I say."

"Are we doing a pirate battle?" K asked.

"Mmhmm. Me and Sying are gonna go sailing!" Krissy said, and Sying nodded enthusiastically.

"I've been practicing on the _real _ocean with my dad," he said.

K nodded Krissy's way. "Sounds like you know what you're doing then, Princess."

"Since it's a birthday thing," Logan said, waving toward the room. "It's yours. I'll just take my winnings and go to bed."

Kurt's jaw dropped K's way before he let out a bark of a laugh. "Oh, that is not what happened."

"It really is," K replied, laughing madly as Logan picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. "Have fun, Dad!"

Kurt was shaking his head at the pair of them before he had to burst into a longer laugh when Krissy leaned over so that she could catch his attention and ask, "Does that make Auntie K my sister? Because I thought she was Mama's sister."

"They're just being silly," Sying said, giggling. "Kurt's not _old _enough to be my Grammy K's dad."

"She just likes to tease because she looks younger than your mother," Kurt laughed, and Krissy shrugged.

"Okay." She wriggled to be let down and then grinned up at the two boys. "So! Are we gonna fight pirates or what?"


	9. Shoo, Board, Don't Bother Me

**Chapter 9: "Shoo, Board, Don't Bother Me" **

The day after Krissy's birthday was the day that Kate was supposed to meet up with the Board again, and while both Avengers and X-Men were preparing to deal with that particular brand of nonsense, a few of them were staying behind to help take care of the kids.

Noh had already offered his ship so that they had the added assurance of the kids being in _space _and pretty much as unreachable as possible, but with that many little ones, that still meant he needed a hand. So, Annie came with him — while Rachel flew out from Chicago to help K look after the school.

And, to their surprise, Natasha arrived to do the same thing.

"Isn't your husband, like, _highly _involved in the Board and their takedown?" Rachel pointed out as she watched Natasha making herself comfortable.

"I have other interests that I'm watching out for," Natasha replied easily.

"Logan's, you mean," Rachel said with a smirk.

"Yes," she agreed. "They have it covered. So I'm watching out too."

"Does K know you're here in case one of our _other _big problems shows up?" Rachel asked with one eyebrow raised.

"I'm sure," Natasha replied. "She has a tendency to anticipate what he's going to do with a pretty high rate of accuracy."

Rachel smirked and nodded. _That and she knows he'd ask you if it came down to it. _

_And she knows how tense he is, especially about Azazel_, Natasha projected back.

_Well, I _did _point out to him that I'm more than capable of fighting her if I put my, _she paused and grinned, _mind to it. _

_Still, if something goes wrong, two is better than one. _

_If it eases your mind, when Azazel _does _get to her _— _or Kurt _— _they're a little slower and easier to fight. It helps that they're fighting it too. _

_Good,_ Natasha replied. _She's no fun to fight if she means it. _

_Something I'm glad to leave to you to experience and not me, _Rachel said, shaking her head with a smirk before she motioned Natasha over to the door. "Well, come on. Let's go send them off or something. I'm sure your blond is much more nervous about this than mine is — but mine got the cushy job helping to babysit in space."

* * *

On the other hand, Kate was decidedly more nervous as she turned the invitation in her hands over a few times. She knew that the address they had given her wasn't where the meeting would actually be held — she didn't think they trusted her, for starters — but it was also right across from Bishop Publishing, and the intimidation factor was high.

Which was fairly annoying in its own right, seeing as the only thing she'd done so far was join their Board, pay everything they'd told her to pay, and show up where they told her to.

Obviously, that wasn't including the small army of Avengers and X-Men that she was bringing with her _this _time, but hey, if they didn't expect that, then they were stupid, and they deserved what was coming to them.

They already did deserve terrible things, but there were levels to this.

Anyway, that was how Kate found herself standing in front of a building that she had seen every morning drinking coffee over submissions and paperwork, still holding the invitation, when, as expected, a long black limousine pulled up.

"Yeah, I know," she said as the door opened, cutting Wesley off before he could say anything. "Long time no see; this isn't the actual meeting place. Yadda yadda. This isn't my first rodeo."

The limo ride to the new location was longer than Kate had expected it to be — and quieter — though maybe that was because Kate didn't feel like talking when Wesley was gonna look smug about the whole thing now that she was playing in their court.

When she arrived at last, most of the Board was already there, except for Viper and Mentallo, though the latter arrived shortly after Kate did. Kate was almost convinced that Viper just wasn't going to show up after the thrashing K had given her, but the meeting didn't get started in any way, so when, five minutes later, Viper did strut into the conference hall, Kate was a little less surprised than she could have been.

None of the extensive damage that K had done Viper was really showing, though Kate could see, just faintly, the white lines of scars from reconstructive surgery on her face, not covered up enough by any makeup or surgeon to hide from a Hawkeye.

"You look different," Kate said, totally straight-faced, when Viper sat down. "Did you get some work done?"

Viper stopped and turned the full force of her most unpleasant look Kate's way.

"I mean, some people can pull off the look. Had a friend who's the prettiest girl I ever met who had scars all down her face. And then there's other people…" Kate trailed off and shrugged.

"If we could just begin," Fisk said, watching Kate with a look of pure irritation before he signalled to Mentallo to speak on the latest proposal for the Board, detailing the different ways that taking over this particular area would turn a profit, how much participation and donation would be required of each Board member, and so on.

If not for the members present, honestly, it wasn't too far from board meetings Kate had attended in the past, just with evil intent and participants.

"Yeah, but here's the thing," Kate said, breaking in at last when Mentallo was more or less wrapping up. "This plan is a direct conflict with the Avengers."

"The Avengers are a group of do-gooders, not a business investment," Fisk said. "They don't apply here."

"Mmm, hate to break it to you, big guy, but I have been pouring time and money into both the Avengers and the X-Men, which is pretty much the definition of an investment," Kate said with one eye shut and her head tipped to the side.

"What are your returns, then, Mrs. Wagner?" Fisk replied.

"You mean besides the free advertising that the Avengers and X-Men have given my books and movies, an author who is still a card-carrying member of the Avengers, a best-selling book that sold _millions _of copies about two of my teammates, a book _and _movie about the MRD largely based on my experiences with the team in addition to their experiences — one of which was proposed by a man that my teammate turned from the MRD and the second of which was proposed to me along with another teammate…. I could go on," Kate said, leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed. She hated referring to her team in monetary terms, especially after repeatedly telling K and Logan that she was _not _trying to make a buck off of them, but… she and Kurt had discussed it with Matt and K and decided it was the best argument to make. "In case you haven't noticed, my father's old business made a pittance compared to what I've built it up to. And it's done that despite _some _people's insistence that those self-same decisions would ruin me." She looked triumphantly his way. "The Avengers, the X-Men, they _are _my business, Mr. Fisk."

"You can't be serious," Masque said, sounding more annoyed than anything else.

"Oh, I totally am," Kate said, nodding calmly as the others in the room were all starting to glare her way. "I'm Hawkeye, remember? You guys knew this when you invited me to your little club. It's my job. It's my _name_. I trade on it all the time when I go promoting books and movies; I can't separate it from my business any more than I could separate my birth name from it. Read the book on Wolverine and K — I'm in it as 'Hawkeye.' Or don't you do your research on your business partners?"

"This is ridiculous," Mentallo muttered.

"I thought the Board had to be in unanimous agreement," Kate said, still perfectly calm. "That's what it said in your bylines, anyway. You all had to sign off on ordering a kill shot on me, for example. Thanks for that."

"Don't tempt me," Masque said, leaning forward.

While the rest of the Board was slowly beginning to fume, Viper was sitting back, looking almost pleased. "Then you'd have no trouble inviting us into your interests," she finally said.

Kate turned to face Viper with raised eyebrows and took a breath in through her mouth before she smiled again and shook her head. "I read the bylines. You're not asking for participation in my company, just for my money and investment — and in return, you stay out of my way. Well, I don't want to invest in something that will hurt me. That's perfectly within my rights in this organization." She tipped her head to the side. "I'm not asking any of you to invest in my projects — or you'd have a reason to be interested. But that is for another meeting, don't you think?"

"Not if we can't come to an agreement on this matter," Mentallo argued.

"Well, you're going to have to rework your little proposal, because where I'm standing, I can't see this being anything but a problem for me down the line, and seeing as you guys get a percentage, that's bad for you. That's how this works," Kate said patiently, as if she was explaining it to her kids instead of people who were far older than she was. "It's basic math."

"Not if the returns on this are greater than what you're seeing with the Avengers," the tracksuit leader argued, and Kate fought the urge to stick her tongue out at him.

But before the argument could get going too much further, the only window in the room shattered, and Clint tumbled into the room in a somersault, popping to his feet with a grin.

"There's a joke here about returns on Avengers investments," Kate said with a grin as Clint tossed her a collapsible staff that she caught with one hand.

"Hey, Hawkeye. Heard there was a party," Clint called out her way.

"Sadly not much of a party, Hawkeye," Kate called back, grinning as Steve and Jessica Drew followed in as well.

As the Avengers poured in, the Board members all moved to call in their private details — all but Viper of course, who simply reached for her darts, but before she could pull any out, Logan had gotten to her and had a death grip on her wrist. "Don't even try it," he told her quietly. "I'll break your arm."

A familiar _bamf _sound echoed the room as Kurt and Scott arrived to round out the group, with Daredevil swinging into the room from Clint's entrance last of all, smirking as he tipped his head to the side and could hear the sputtered indignation from the Board as a whole as they protested the intrusion.

"You have no right to be here," Mentallo insisted.

"Outside of the multiple charges of domestic terrorism, blackmail, and kidnapping?" Cap said as he watched several of the members of the board carefully. "No. No right at all."

"This is a business meeting," Fisk said calmly, though his tone was almost dangerous. "If you have proof, or a warrant…"

Steve simply smirked. "Of course I do, Mr. Fisk. You don't think that I'd go busting in warrantless, do you?"

The members of the Board all glanced at each other, though it was Masque who moved first, letting out a cry of frustration as she dove toward Kate, clearly meaning to take her out for betraying the Board. But she didn't make it more than a few steps before Kurt had teleported into her path, both swords out as, instead of making a move against her, he just let her impale herself on his blades with her own momentum.

She let out a gasp, and Kurt stepped in a bit closer. "Stay away from my wife," he said in a near growl before he pulled his swords free and she sank to her knees, holding her stomach. The rest of the Board very quickly realized that their best option was to let the Avengers and X-Men take them in — and escape later, as they always did.

The Board members were being escorted out, one by one, with heavy guard detail, when Viper made her move. Logan hadn't released his grip on her arm, but she twisted her left arm away from him then snatched up the darts on her right side and flung them. He was close enough that he caught three of them in the chest, but the fourth flew over his shoulder and stuck fast in Dog's arm.

He swore loudly, but it faded off fast. A few moments later, he crumpled to the floor in a heap as Viper's men finally managed to toss in several smoke bombs with curiously-colored smoke — understandably scattering the heroes, since they weren't sure what it was in the gas.

As the room cleared, one of Kurt's bamfs started to chatter at a high rate of speed to Clint, pulling on his shirt until he realized that the blonde archer had no idea what he was talking about. With a little growl, he teleported into the smoke-filled room to return with a very still Logan, patting his face with one hand and looking very worried for his big brother's friend.

Clint pulled a face when he saw the state that Logan was in and nodded. "Yeah, go get Nightcrawler and have him get him out, alright? We'll bat cleanup here," he said.

The little bamf nodded seriously, then saluted Clint with his lip stuck out before he disappeared and reappeared a short moment later with Kurt, who swore, tipped his head at Clint, and vanished again with Logan and his little friend.

And while the other heroes were taking stock of themselves, Matt Murdock had slipped off, following Fisk, who was trying to slip off with the gas as a cover. But more concerning was the fact that Fisk was not alone in his escape. Kate was with him, both arms trapped by the wrists in one of Fisk's large fists. He was using her not only as collateral to keep any heroes from stopping his escape but also as someone he could blame. And, Matt knew, someone he could _punish_.

"You've been a thorn in my side for far too long," Fisk muttered between his teeth. "It's unacceptable."

"Yeah, well, karma," Kate shot back at a higher pitch than normal, though when Fisk increased the pressure of his hold on her wrists, threatening to break them, she trailed off into silence as he pulled her into an exit that hadn't been on the plans for the building and that, therefore, the Avengers didn't know about.

Matt radioed the others to let them know that he was following Fisk, keeping as close as he could through the hidden exit until they reached the outside, where of course, Wesley had already called up a car for them to make a hasty exit. Matt followed, running across the rooftops as he kept an ear out for the car, following its moves until the car pulled into a high rise parking area — and Matt jumped down to catch up with the car's occupants.

They were headed to the top floor, and Matt rushed to make up the difference in distance, scaling the outside wall until he found the room that the elevator had opened up to in the presidential suites. The glass itself was shatterproof, so he went to the roof instead, slipping down into the room at the same time there was a sickening _crack _as Kate's arms both broke.

That was, more or less, Matt's cue. He burst into the room and practically launched like a bullet right at Fisk, who was towering over a crumpled, crying Hawkeye. He had to dance at the last second around Kate as Fisk yanked her to her feet and then cracked both staves into Fisk's side hard.

For a moment, Fisk simply looked mad before he tossed Kate aside and took a swing at Matt — and the dance began all over again. Matt could avoid the hits like the best of them — but he could take them just as well, too, and he just kept right on coming, both of his staves cracking against bone and muscle and nerve as often as he could get the hit in.

And it wasn't long after that before the rest of the Avengers and Scott showed up. Scott immediately blasted Fisk _hard _— Matt jumped back a split second before he took the shot — and Scott kept right on blasting while Steve and Clint went to Kate. And Jessica was on the comm to Peter Parker, calling in SHIELD for backup, before she switched frequencies and let Kurt know their coordinates to find the group.

"Hey Katie," Clint said as he crouched down beside her, then glared when he saw the way her arms were discolored. He pulled a couple of arrows from his quiver and nodded to Scott. "Gimme space," he called out, and Scott stepped sideways just long enough for Clint to line up both shots and fire, tearing the arrows straight across both of Fisk's arms, in deep. And a third, explosive arrow, with a followup blast from Scott, knocked the big man out entirely.

Matt was already moving through the suite, looking for hidden panels and anywhere else that information could be hidden, by the time Kurt reappeared. He let out a cry when he saw that Kate had been hurt and teleported to her in an instant, simply scooping her to his chest to teleport once more with her to the mansion.

It was another five minutes before a host of SHIELD agents showed up, with Peter Parker in his blue uniform looking wide-eyed around the room.

"Well then," he said. "It looks like you guys did all the heavy lifting."

"As usual," Jess said with a smirk.

The SHIELD agents were already swarming the place to bag and tag evidence and sweep the whole suite — and Peter directed about five of them on how to get Fisk in custody.

"If he wakes up in transit, Miles gave me one of his venom blast things," Peter told Jess with a grin. "They're kind of brilliant."

"They are," Jess had to agree, though before they could get too much into their conversation, Matt called out to Peter with a grin, waving him over.

He tapped the wall with one knuckle. "Hidden access panel," he said, and when a few moments later, Clint had figured out how to break into it, all three of them — Clint, Matt, and Peter — were grinning widely.

The access panel revealed a safe, which had several books in it. And Clint, pulling one out, flipped it in the air and grinned at Peter. "Whatcha wanna bet the numbers in these books don't add up to the ones he reports, hmm?"

"Pretty safe bet," Peter laughed.

"It's a start, anyway," Matt said. "Something solid we can hold him on."

"Don't worry about that," Peter promised. "By the time me and my team—" He gestured at the blue-clad SHIELD agents. "— I have a team now, by the way — but anyway, when we get done combing the place, we'll have enough to put him away for good." He shook his head. "And I think I speak for all of us when I say 'good riddance'."

* * *

Hank had Logan in much the same setup he'd had K in when she came in last time they were tangling with Viper, only K had made sure to crawl up into the bed with him, insisting to Hank that it was 'medically necessary'. She didn't even have to bribe the little bamfs to bring her a more comfortable blanket to cover both of them up and snuggle in, either. And though Hank was shaking his head and arguing his points, he couldn't argue too hard when Logan was just smirking into K's hair and not fighting Hank on the IV. It wasn't until then that Hank realized that she was getting Logan to do exactly what Hank wanted without a bit of fighting over it.

When Kate came in, though, hurting and looking far more distressed than what should have been legal, Hank quickly left the ferals to their own devices and gently led Kate to the X-Ray machine. "Are you against a healthy dose of painkillers?" Hank asked with a little smile.

Kate very quickly shook her head. "Please," she breathed out.

He nodded and measured her a dose, hitting her with the shot before he even had her seated properly. "Just a moment, and we'll know how bad it is," he promised. "And it's my understanding that the bamfs are willing to bring down the comforts of your own room if you ask nicely."

"They just ask for hugs and kisses. Not a bad bargain," she said as Kurt watched Hank anxiously over her shoulder.

When the X-Rays came back, as Kate was settled onto a bed, Hank frowned deeply and let out a sound that meant he was deep in thought. "I'll call Tyler," he decided, " and ask if he can get here a day or two sooner." He looked at Kate over the rim of his glasses. "Of course, you'll need a cast until then."

"Yeah. I figured," she said, tipping her head back as she leaned against Kurt. "Bad enough to need Ty?" she asked, though her even tone betrayed the drugs starting to work in her system.

"It'll certainly heal on its own if you prefer," Hank told her, working quickly to get the casts started so she could at least relax. "But I assumed you'd want to shoot someone faster than two months from now."

"Unless she can manage two months of painkillers and Elf-service," Logan called out in a slow meter.

"Tempting," Kate said as she snuggled into Kurt the slightest bit and he kissed the top of her head.

"Any excuse to spoil you, _liebchen_," Kurt teased gently.

It wasn't long at all before Hank had Kate set up and she was soundly sleeping, worn out from the whole ordeal and the painkillers — and Kurt seemed to be of K's mindset as he stayed curled up with Kate. Which was how Peter found them when he came down to give them an update.

"Ho-kay, so, nobody's gonna listen to me properly all hyped up on the good stuff, but if your brains are in there, we arrested the Board."

"All of 'em?" Logan asked, though he didn't bother to open his eyes.

"Ah, no. There's a very dead half-brother of yours who, well, I can't arrest — but if you know a good necromancer…" Peter trailed off and shrugged.

"Yeah, let that one go, Petey," Logan replied.

"And, ah, we didn't get Viper. Sorry 'bout that. We got Kingpin, though."

"That's alright," K replied. "I'll catch up to her later."

"Yeah, I'm sure you will," Peter said with a nod before he pulled up a chair, spun it around, and rested his chin on his arms folded over the back of it. "We got Fisk on tax evasion. Would you believe it? Like Al Capone — how fitting is _that_?"

"Is he gonna die from syph in prison?" Logan chuckled.

"Ah, no. Probably not. But he's gonna stay locked up for a good long time." Peter shrugged up both shoulders. "I was gonna come tell Hawkeye the good news but … ah…." He gestured to where Kate was curled up with Kurt.

"You can tell the Elf," Logan said, still not looking at Peter. "It's about as good. He'll pass it on, won'tcha, Elf?"

"Of course," Kurt said, though it was muffled by the fact that he was speaking into Kate's hair.

"Madame Masque choke on her own stupid?" Logan asked.

"Ah, no, she mysteriously is suffering from a very bad sword wound," Peter said.

"Musta been a fluke thing," Logan muttered.

"Well, she and the other Board members aren't going anywhere," Peter said with a little nod. He grinned. "I helped design the alarm system in the holding cells for these guys. Tested it out myself. I didn't break out until I had the idea to cover myself in webbing and coated the walls…"

"That's great, Petey, hardly bored at all," Logan said with a little yawn that was probably forced.

Peter rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, Sara said it was the cleverest thing she'd seen since she started working there."

That however, got Logan to open his eyes. "Sara huh? _The _Sara?"

"Sara Bailey? Yeah." Peter nodded seriously, though he was blushing high on his cheeks. "She joined SHIELD — would you believe it?"

"So she thinks you're clever," Logan replied with a smirk. "Alright. When are you going out?"

"Whoa, hey, I'm not making the same mistake twice," Peter said, holding up both hands.

"I think it's impossible to make the same mistake with that one," Logan pointed out.

"Well, yes, true, but we've talked, like, three times."

"And she still thinks you're clever. Go for it."

"Who is Sara?" Kurt asked, picking his head up with an impish grin starting up.

"Don't worry about it," Logan said, waving a hand his way as he pulled K a little closer. "She's off limits."

"Well, who is she then that she gets such special treatment?" Kurt asked, a bit taken aback by the response — especially since Logan was usually the first to tease.

"She's _Sara_," Logan replied as if that was explanation enough. "Cute little strawberry blonde."

"Is she now?" Kurt said, starting to grin.

"And off-limits," Logan said. "Petey too, for that matter."

"Logan…" Kurt said, shaking his head as Peter just grinned and brushed off his hand on his chest.

"Personally vetted by Wolverine. Yep. She's pretty much perfect," Peter said, grinning.

"He's right though, Peter," K said, barely lifting her head from Logan's shoulder as she curled in closer to Logan. "You should ask her out."

"Ah…" Peter blew out his breath from his cheeks. "I was thinking I'd, you know, at least have a conversation longer than a few minutes with her first?"

"Which will happen when you get her out on a date," Logan argued.

"I'm confused," Kurt put in. "Are we teasing or pushing or…?" His tail was switching the slightest bit, his head tipped to the side.

"You're snuggling a Hawk with a busted wing. _We're _encouraging him," Logan said.

"You should meet her sometime," Peter said, then paused and grinned. "I mean… officially."

"Waitin' on you, Petey," Logan said. "I need to meet her officially too." He gave Peter a little smile that Peter returned with a nod.

"And when you get past the official meetings…" Kurt said with a crooked smile.

"Elf's makin' a claim," Logan said with a laugh. "Better get with it, Petey."

"Wow, see, this? This is why I don't tell you guys anything," Peter teased.

"You don't want backup?" K asked. "Because they're trying to back you up. And help."

"And I'm trying not to scare her off," Peter pointed out. "I already did that once."

"Peter," K said, sitting up long enough for Logan to pull her back. "She thinks you're charming. What are you waiting for?"

"Clever. I said 'clever.' And I am?" Peter pointed out.

"Do you want me to go pass her a note? Because I will," K promised.

Peter rolled his eyes. "Come on, guys. I can handle this."

"She'll be in and out of the helicarrier before Fury can call the alarm," Logan laughed.

"I can _handle _it," Peter insisted, though he was grinning all the same.

"Then do it. Bring her by. You can say it's an official errand. Bring me a sealed envelope with nothin' in it," Logan said with a grin.

"I… was actually thinking of an actual _tour_," Peter said. "You know, since she's never seen the place…"

"You got it," Logan agreed. "Just make sure it's on a good night for dinner."

"So, when you're cooking?" Peter teased. "She likes seafood, actually."

Logan just laughed at him and snuggled deeper into K. "Sure, Pete, whatever you say."


	10. THE Sara Bailey

**Chapter 10: "THE Sara Bailey"**

Tyler managed to get out of work two days sooner than expected, but that still meant that Kate had been stuck in casts with painkillers for three days. His arrival was announced when half of the kids in the mansion went stampeding over to see him with broad smiles, calling his name for him to pick them up and toss them, though he tried to tell them that he had to see Kate too … and that there was plenty of time for games later.

When he finally got to Kate, who was irritated at having to hold her coffee mug in the wrong hand, since her right arm was more damaged than her left, he couldn't help but pick on her. "I'm not sure that I can do this if you've had too much caffeine."

"Oh, come on. Like my blood isn't half coffee already." Kate waved him over for a hug.

He grinned that much wider at her as he picked her up. "Doesn't mean you really have to call me in like this. I can just say 'hi' too."

She laughed at him and hugged him tight until he set her back down. "Well, you know me. I don't know how to say anything but the most dramatic of hellos — ever since I met you," she teased.

"This is true," he agreed. "Want to go down to the lab and get good and numb before we do this? Hank sent me the X-Rays."

"Yes please," Kate said, gesturing awkwardly for him to lead the way.

Of course, when they did get down to the labs, there was one more little one who had to tackle Tyler — while Hank got Kate good and numb — and that was little Jolie, who had to hug her big brother before he could do _anything _else.

"I _missed _you!" Jolie said, snuggling up into him and purring, curled in a grinning ball of white fluff.

"Missed you too, Fuzzy," he laughed.

"I got to go swimming with Mom!" she said through a purr. "Swimming's fun. James likes swimming too."

"I didn't know that," Tyler told her before he picked her up and tossed her in the air a few times. "You like to play with him?"

"Uh-huh! I like playing with James. And Sadie! And Elin! And Dad and Wolvie!"

"Sounds like you play with everyone," Tyler said with a grin. "Do you mind playing with Kari while I help her mom?"

"Ooh! Yes! I like Kari! Her tail is _almost _cool as mine."

"Not nearly as fluffy," Tyler agreed.

"Okay. Come play when you're done!" Jolie called out before she rushed off, a little chirrup echoing the lab as she left.

"Sorry," Tyler said to Kate as he took a seat next to her. Hank had already given her the shot. "Little sister needed a minute."

"Not even mad," Kate promised, leaning over onto him. "Your whole family is adorable. Even Dr. Fuzzy."

"Oh, he's the cutest for sure," Tyler agreed, just to watch Kate grin wider as he took her arms in his hands and simply got to work.

He was nearly done when Kurt teleported down to join them, grinning when he saw that Kate was half snuggled in with Tyler. "I see you went with the painkillers before you got to work," he laughed. "How is she?"

"Feeling no pain, as you can see. Her arm is fixed, and the sprain that didn't show up on the scans is fixed too," Tyler promised. "Now she's just … Kate."

"And Hawkeye," Kate said with a little grin.

"Always Hawkeye," Tyler agreed.

"Well, I can take her off your hands," Kurt offered with a little smile. "I think there is a small army upstairs waiting to play with you."

"Well, before I get caught up with the kids, I wanted to talk to you. I actually could have been here a little sooner, but I had a special meeting come up."

"Oh?" Kurt asked with a growing smile. "What about?"

"Meeting with my stake leaders — they called me as the bishop for our ward," Tyler said, his grin widening even further.

Kurt stared at Tyler for a moment before he broke into a huge grin and then teleported the short distance to wrap him up in a hug. "That's… _wunderbar_," he declared, still grinning.

Tyler's grin was threatening to split his face as he returned the hug. "Thanks," he said again, sounding both nervous and pleased with himself. "Took me and Tammy by surprise. I mean... I _just _got done with medical school not that long ago, so I think she was looking forward to me not being busy all the time," he laughed.

"I'm sure she's proud," Kurt laughed — and then laughed harder when Kate made a little "mmhmm" noise and decided to join the hug, still a little high from the painkillers Hank had given her.

"Yeah." Tyler grinned widely, wrapped the two Wagners up in a hug, and then laughed. "Anyway, you guys are the second to know — after Mom and Dad, obviously."

"Obviously," Kurt agreed, smiling that much wider before he reached down to wrap Kate up and take her more or less off of Tyler's hands. She snuggled into him and rested her forehead on his chest, and he kissed the top of her head. "You shouldn't keep Jolie waiting," he teased Tyler lightly.

"Right," Tyler said with a little chuckle. "I'm sure you'll know where to find me when Kate's feeling better, huh?"

"Just follow the sounds of squealing children," Kurt teased, nodding before he teleported off with his newly-healed wife for some privacy.

* * *

Scott usually spent the mornings with a cup of coffee and a newspaper, always scanning for any signs of trouble — but he honestly hadn't been expecting one of the headlines in the national news section.

_Firebrand Senator Misty Cleary Announces Bid for Presidency, Promises to Run 'For Everyone, Regardless of Genetic Status'_

Scott blinked at the newspaper for a long moment, the coffee forgotten as he processed it, before he got to his feet, pulling out his cell phone as he did so.

At first, the call went through to Cleary's chief of staff, but once he gave her his name, she gasped. "Oh, hold on just a minute. She'll want to talk to you."

That in itself was surprising to Scott, though he didn't argue it, instead waiting and drumming his fingers on his crossed arms until Cleary picked up. "Scott?"

"Hello, Senator," Scott said, smiling despite himself; it really was so surreal to have someone he considered to be a good friend in the government. "I just saw the news."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," Cleary said quickly. "I wasn't sure how y'all would take it, didn't want you to think I was trying to run a platform off your backs—"

"No, no," Scott assured her quickly. "I think it's a great idea. It would be the first time we've had someone with a _proven _track record on our side that's making a serious run." At that, he paused. "Listen, you know you have our support—"

"That means a lot, too," Cleary said.

Scott smirked, shook his head, and then continued, "Right. Well, you know my family and I will support you, but what I saw in that article… You're putting yourself in harm's way again."

"No more than you are," Cleary pointed out. "And it's about time someone told the truth 'round here. If the American people are smart — and I truly believe they are — they won't hold it against me."

"You might be surprised."

"And _you _might be surprised too, Scott," Cleary countered with a laugh. "I really do think you have more people in your corner than you think."

Scott shook his head. "We'll see."

* * *

Now that fall was in full swing, so was the semester, so Peter had been sure to make arrangements to bring Sara around for a tour of the place when it was the weekend. It was not only the best for the teachers for scheduling reasons but also meant that there was a good chance the teachers from the other schools might be visiting — after all, they _were _family.

But as it turned out, it was actually a fairly quiet weekend — since the previous one had seen so much action with the Board and several X-Men coming over to protect the mansion as well as the kids. And Sara, for her part, seemed to be relieved that they weren't walking into some huge X-Men soiree.

Plus, she looked amazing in a pair of slacks and a light fall sweater. Peter was trying hard not to keep stealing glances at her.

"I can't believe you arranged this for me," Sara said as they pulled up the driveway and she looked around the gorgeous grounds. It was the perfect time to come, too, as September was getting underway and the leaves were just barely starting to change, little hints of color all along the edges of the lawn and the forest.

"Well, I _did _work here for a while. You know. Teaching and stuff," Peter said with a little shrug and his best 'modest' tone.

"So you pulled some strings," Sara said with a nod and a little smile. "You know, I would have agreed to coffee too. You don't have to go to all _this _…"

"Well, hey, you said you wanted to see the place," Peter pointed out.

"If I said I wanted to see the moon, would you call up NASA?" she teased.

"I don't need to," Peter said, grinning wider. "I've got access to a Quinjet that goes to space just fine."

She stared at him for just a moment before broadly grinning his way. "Peter Parker, you're something else, you know that?"

He shrugged a little self-consciously and then let out a laugh. "Well, you know ... Spectacular Spiderman and all that…." he said as he rubbed a hand through his hair.

"Funny, I always liked the 'friendly neighborhood' handle better."

He brightened considerably. "Really? That's my favorite too!"

"Made you sound more down-to-earth and less of a … self-promotion, I guess." She gave his arm a squeeze. "Not that they all don't apply, though."

"Well, I share with some fellow spiders," Peter said, unable to stop grinning at her.

"Copycats," she said with a wave.

"Alternate uni- you know what, it's a really, really long story. You'd like 'em, though, I promise. Spiderman the Second is almost as funny as I am."

"I find that hard to believe," she laughed.

Peter stared at her for a second before he let out a disbelieving laugh, grinned even wider than before — which didn't look like it should have been physically possible — and then shook his head. "Well… I did say _almost_…." he said as they pulled to a stop and he quickly vaulted around the car to open Sara's door for her.

Kurt was the one to meet them at the front door, grinning with a showman's smile when they arrived. "So this is Sara?" he asked Peter with one eyebrow raised.

Peter stared at him for just a second. "Yeah, ah — yes. Yes it is. Sara, this is Nightcrawler, but they like to call him all kinds of other things ... "

"Kurt Wagner, at your service," Kurt said with an impish grin as he broke into a deep bow and kissed Sara's hand. "It's wonderful to meet you. When Peter arranged the tour with us, he spoke _very _highly of you."

Sara's eyebrows rose as her smile widened. "Did he? What did he have to say?"

"Only the most wonderful things," Kurt assured her as he straightened up and flashed a grin at both of them — especially at a very red Peter. "He said that you were sweet and, of course, that you were beautiful — though he didn't quite do you justice, I'm afraid."

Peter laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I think … I can handle the tour myself. _Thanks, _Kurt. So, so much. That was great."

Kurt just grinned that much wider. "You know where to find me if you need me," he said before he disappeared in a burst of blue smoke.

"He's … he's the drama teacher," Peter said with a shrug. "Overly dramatic."

"Oh!" Sara said, then started to laugh. "You know what — that explains so much."

He smiled her way, a bit more sheepishly than before. "So … ah, you wanted a tour, right? Let's … go look at the least likely to be populated by overly dramatic X-Men places first."

"And how many of them are overly dramatic?" Sara teased.

"Honestly, that depends entirely on what kind of mood they're in. Kurt … is always like that. We're kind of lucky he didn't appear in full pirate garb with a half dozen helpers with swords. Because that … that happens surprisingly often."

"Well, now I've been warned," Sara laughed as she gave Peter's arm a squeeze.

"I really didn't think he was going to pull anything like that. I thought .. nevermind."

"It's fine," she promised him quickly, then started to smile a little wider. "Did you really say all those nice things about me?"

Again, Peter tried not to look too embarrassed, but the quick blush and his delayed response didn't cover well for him at all. "Well you know … yeah. I mean. It's all true, so … yeah."

This time it was Sara's turn to blush lightly. "Oh… well… thanks, then."

"Let's … just .. I need to show you around. _Classrooms_. That's … it's a school, right? Let's start there."

Thankfully, the majority of the tour went by as, well, a _tour_. Peter was able to point out his old classroom where he used to teach, and they'd even gone through the greenhouse and gardens before all that was left was, well, the places where Peter was sure people would be.

Still, he'd promised a tour, and with a late fall grill-out with Logan cooking, they'd be going through the kitchen anyway, so he headed into the kitchen with Sara and a warning that "this is probably where the overly dramatic X-Men are if they're not outside, so… just… yeah."

And of course, Kate was sitting on the counter, grinning widely at the two of them as they came in. "Hey, Pete. Who's your plus one?" she asked with a crooked sort of smirk.

"Hawkeye," he said, wide-eyed for a moment. "I'm sure Kurt told you already that Sara was coming, didn't he?"

"Oh did he? I thought he was talking about sunshine and not a person the way he was going on about your arrival…" Kate said.

Peter's shoulders dropped slightly. "Drama teacher's wife. Also amazingly dramatic." He straightened up a bit. "Where's Logan?"

"Like Kurt would marry anyone who wasn't able to keep up with him," Kate said with a laugh. She made it a point to jump down from the counter and stick out her hand by way of introduction before she answered Peter's question. "He's grilling. We're eating outside. If you go straight through those doors, there is a small army of kids, Howletts, and Summerses."

"Oh good," Peter said, shaking his head at her. "So it shouldn't be a problem at all then."

"Nope!" she said cheerfully. "Do you drink, Sara?" she asked. "Logan's got beer, but if you prefer something else…"

"Not really," Sara said, shaking her head politely. "But thanks for the offer anyway."

Peter shook his head and led the way outside, though he paused for just a second when he saw Scott with a beer in _his _hand, sitting back with his feet kicked up. "Maybe this is a Skrull thing," he said under his breath, very quietly. But that only got a smirk out of Logan, who was doing the same thing nearby.

Logan didn't even look his way before he reached down into the cooler and chucked a beer toward Peter's head, and Peter caught it one-handed just as Logan invited him to sit down. "Have a drink. Relax. You need it." When Peter paused, Logan went on, "Kate give you a hard time?"

"Ah," Peter said, finding a seat that looked like it was relatively safe from the splash zone of kids playing, "sorta. The welcoming party was the big hurdle."

"Want me to put her in the pond?" K offered quietly.

Peter looked over his shoulder for a second before he grinned K's way. "Pretty please?"

"I require a hug for payment," K replied before she let her voice drop to a whisper. "Kurt is going in. Logan knows."

"I figure it was kind of obvious," Peter whispered back.

"I promised his bamfs a bottle of whiskey if they helped me," K told him quietly. "No escape."

"Mutiny of the bamfs? I like it," Peter laughed.

"Arrrr," she agreed with a grin. "Really, Pete. This should be a safe zone. Those two are just … ridiculous. And if anyone else gives you flack, I'll personally tackle them into the pool myself."

No sooner had K let Peter out of the hug and gone to introduce herself to Sara than Sadie came running up to Peter, grinning _massively _and wearing what had to be a brand new tee shirt with the Spiderman logo.

"That is the best shirt ever, Sadie," Peter said with a grin as she climbed up onto his lap. "Do you think I could pull it off? The look, I mean?"

She snuggled in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I picked it out! And Mom said I was _silly_." She shook her head at his question, though. "It's waaaaaay too small for you."

"Well, I could get a me-sized one. What do you think?"

"Yes. And we can go get ice cream," she decided, nodding to herself.

"I like that idea," Peter agreed, grinning widely before he inclined his head toward Sara. "This is Sara. Sara, this is my goddaughter, Sadie."

Sadie looked up at her with a quizzical expression on her face. "Hello," she said sweetly before she simply snuggled back in.

"And who does she belong to?" Sara asked, smiling just as sweetly back at the little girl.

"She's mine," Logan said from the other side of Peter.

"Do you want to go see the horses?" Sadie asked Sara.

"Oh, Peter didn't _tell _me you had horses here!" Sara said, brightening up substantially as she hit Peter in the arm and he looked sheepish at forgetting something so obviously important.

"We're goin' on a trail ride after dinner," Sadie said. "I get to ride with Daddy."

"Do you have any room for an extra?" Sara asked with a widening smile. "I love horses."

"We always have room for one more," Logan told her.

"That would be lovely," Sara said with a wide smile that almost matched Peter's grin at the fact that she was clearly enjoying herself.

"K's the horseback riding instructor," Peter explained.

"She leads the ride; I take the last spot. Keep everyone else in the middle," Logan finished.

"Well, I've never gone for a trail ride," Sara admitted. "But I've wanted to for years now."

"Perfect time of year for it," Logan told her. "You'll do fine, I'm sure."

"Do you take all of the kids out, then?" Sara asked, genuinely interested.

"The ones in my riding class that want extra time go," K offered. "And sometimes a teacher or two. The little kids get their own trail ride. Theirs was yesterday."

"Trail rides are fun," said Kaleb as he tried to climb up to join the conversation — since clearly, this was where the fun was.

"This one usually rides with K," Logan said, watching the little elfling smile at the new girl. "He's a flirt."

"No. I'm cute," he said, shaking his head at Logan as if it was obvious.

"That too," Logan replied, smirking.

Kaleb grinned widely at Logan before he turned toward Sara. "You're pretty," he told her, still grinning. "Are you friends with Spidey?"

"I am," Sara replied, smiling broadly at the little flirt. "You look just like your father."

"_Danke!_" he sang out. "I'm cute."

"He did warn you," Peter told Sara, though she just shook her head and laughed.

"I don't mind."

Kaleb grinned wider and stood up on his toes so he could reach Sara and give her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm Kaleb," he said as Sara laughed.

Sadie shook her head and looked up at Spidey with a patient look. "He's silly. And I'm gonna go play." She gave him a kiss on the very tip of his nose and then a bear hug before she slid down to the ground and took off at a dead run.

"I'm gonna go play too," Kaleb decided, sliding off to go catch up to Sadie, leaving the adults in relative peace for the moment.

"Peter's good with them," Scott said as he came over, presumably to refill a plate for himself and Annie, though he was smirking at Peter. "He and Sadie are something else."

"Yeah, almost as fun to watch as Elin and Chance," K said with a little smirk that had Logan trying not to laugh through a mouthful of beer.

Scott shot K an incredibly dry look before he shook his head. "It's nice to meet you, by the way," he said, turning to Sara. "We don't get to give VIP tours often," he added, smirking Peter's way, "especially not dinner tours."

"It's subtle, but I wanna," K whispered to Peter. "Judgement call, Spidey."

"Well if you don't get him, then the cook will come over…" Peter pointed out.

K looked over at Logan, who just grinned. "You can get away with it," he said. "I'd never hear the end of it."

She nodded once and got to her feet lightly. And as soon as Scott set the plate down, she took a couple of quick steps and tackled him around the waist, clearing the little distance of concrete so that the pair of them hit the water with a wicked splash.

When Scott surfaced, he was already shaking his head. "What, I can't introduce myself?"

"You are being picky, brown eyes," K accused with a splash his way. "Subtle, but picky."

"Right," Scott said with a smirk as he climbed out at the ladder, turned, and then blasted off a little optic beam that absolutely swamped K in a wave.

K laughed madly. "Oh, I love it when you actually _play!_"

"Dad's good at splashes," Cody said as he swam over to where K was.

"It's true!" K agreed. "_Dad_. Come play."

Scott just gave her a dry, dry look, and Cody giggled and shook his head. "No, he's _my _dad."

"Oh. I know…. I picked Kurt to be my dad," K said with a grin. "He's good with splashes too."

"He cheats," Cody said.

"So does your dad," she pointed out.

Cody tipped his head to the side and then let out a sigh. "I guess," he had to agreed.

She pulled him over and gave him a little hug, then moved to shallower water to toss him in the air. "Never thought you'd see the day when your dad was a _cheater_."

Scott shook his head at that. "Hey, this is a school for learning to use your powers."

"Not listening to you today, rule breaker!"

"It wasn't a splash contest," Scott said, sounding insulted.

But both K and Cody were laughing at the look on his face by that point. "It so was a case of 'can't take it'," K called back. "I'm just glad it was me and not Logan or this would be a whole different argument."

Scott rolled his eyes. "Don't come up with hypotheticals that just won't happen just to win an argument."

K grinned wider and moved further from the deep water. "Are you saying he wouldn't do it?"

"I'm saying there's a reason _you_ did it."

"And the reason was because I wanted to tackle you into the pool," K said. "It was so fun, I might need to do it more often."

Scott just shook his head at her. "Right."

"Annie loved it, didn't you Annie?"

"Oh absolutely," Annie laughed as Scott had finally toweled off and was just shaking his head at both of them before he ended up back in the pool again — this time from Annie tackling him in.

"I think Mom wins," Cody giggled to K.

"Moms always win," K whispered to him.

"That's what my big sister says too," Cody said, matching her whisper.

"You should go give Spidey a hug," K told him as they headed over to the steps.

"But he has a pretty friend," Cody pointed out. "So he wants to be with her, not _me_. Silly."

"You are a very considerate little Summers," K told him before she kissed his forehead. "Come on; I'll get you a cookie."

"Chocolate chip?" he asked, perking up and grinning.

"You got it, little man."

It wasn't much longer after that, after everyone had a chance to eat and relax, when the trail riding group headed out to the barn. Logan had clapped a hand on Peter's shoulder on his way out, promising that no one would give Sara a hard time, but that still left Peter wide open with not only Kurt but Scott too — now that both ferals were off doing other things.

When he turned to see the two of them looking expectantly at him, he put both hands up in front of him. "Time travel, okay? It was all time travel."

"That's a great hook, but not a story," Scott pointed out.

"What do you want to know?" Peter asked. "It was all from a three-year-long time traveling misadventure with Logan."

"Three _years_?" Scott repeated.

"How long ago was this?" Kurt asked.

"You know… it was before the whole … it was a long time ago." Peter said with one hand at the back of his neck.

Kurt raised both eyebrows. "And you're only _now _seeking her out?" He shook his head. "Peter…"

"She was working at a bank," Peter said. "Seemed too creepy to open an account and just stalk her. But apparently, she was looking for some adventure, so she quit and joined SHIELD." He shrugged. "I didn't want to be a creep."

"Peter, it's impossible for _you _to be a creep," Kurt laughed.

"Well. Anyway. It was a while ago. And … we kind of got bounced around time for a while. I won't get into the details, but we got stuck in the old west until the Minutemen showed up … funny name. Minutemen. Considering. … "

"And now she's going riding with K and Logan," Scott said, trying to get Peter back on track before he could go too far off on a tangent.

"Right. Well. Their timing was awful. The Minutemen, that is," Peter said, sounding a lot quieter than he had been all day. "I was planning … well. It doesn't matter. When they brought us back to our right time, the only ones that remembered any of it were Logan and I."

"So she thinks she met you at the bank?" Kurt asked with a frown.

"Technically, yes," Peter said. "We were stopping bank robbers when it started, and they put us right back there when they found us. So yeah. Pretty much."

"And years and years later… she's working at SHIELD," Scott said, starting to smirk. "How's that working out for you, by the way?"

"She said 'friendly neighborhood' was her favorite Spidey description, so I think I'm doing alright," Peter said, crossing his arms and tipping his chin up.

Kurt laughed and shook his head. "I think it's wonderful, Peter. You deserve to find some happiness."

"That's pretty much exactly what Wolverine said too," Peter agreed.

"So what's with the nervous jumpy routine?" Scott asked. "She obviously likes you — or she wouldn't be here."

"I just don't want to screw it up," Peter admitted. "She's nothing like MJ or … or even Gwen."

"That's perfect, though," Scott said, dropping a bit of the tease as he nodded along. "Annie's not anything like Jean or Emma. You don't want her to be; trust me."

"Logan couldn't understand why I didn't try sooner, honestly," Peter said. "But she seemed happy at the bank, and I didn't want to drag her into all the crazy …"

"Yeah, I thought the same thing with Annie," Scott nodded. "But if she's at SHIELD and wants to see the mansion… I think you're probably safe," he added with a smirk.

"You know it's weird when you do that, right?" Peter said, frowning at Scott slightly.

"Do what?"

"You know what? I'm not going to tell you, because I know what will happen," Peter said, still looking at him strangely. "But I'm working on it. I swear."

"Well, _when _you're ready," Kurt said with a little smirk, "you know where to find me."

"Yeah, I have a feeling it's going to take some time to get to that point again."

"It took three years before, _ja_?" Kurt smirked.

"Three years where I was the only modern person she knew. Your bestie went and ended up being chief of a tribe of Indians."

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me," Kurt chuckled.

"She's welcome here just as often as you are in the meantime," Scott told Peter. "Really. You're part of the family. We're just happy for you."

"Yeah," Peter said in a breath, looking toward the direction of the barn. "Me too."


	11. Chicago Wishes

**Chapter 11: "Chicago Wishes"**

David, the technopath Kitty had hired, really did enjoy being the tech director at the Chicago school, though he had to admit that it led to the weirdest shopping trips getting what he needed for those projects.

Still, he had a great budget to go nuts on all sorts of different ideas. And with his own startups and the school funding… he was having a blast. Still, even with as much fun as he was having, walking down the middle of Chicago with some serious hardware wasn't exactly something he thought he would ever do.

He was headed back when he spotted Tyler and grinned, waving his way and figuring, hey, if the guy was home earlier from Westchester than expected, he could give David a hand with the tech — some of it was kind of heavy.

He had just loaded the lighter stuff in the car before he looked back up at Tyler — and realized that the guy with long hair and an evil glare was definitely _not _Tyler. And the blue-skinned woman next to him ... David was pretty sure he'd seen her picture in the news before. Mystique... though he didn't know she was … he didn't know _anyone _was friendly with Sabretooth. Not _that _way.

He tried not to stare as he struggled to get the rest of his gear loaded up, and as soon as he was done, he headed right for the school, still frowning to himself at the odd pairing he'd seen. It must have been enough to interfere with his usual routine too, since Kitty asked what was wrong as soon as she saw the look on his face.

"Did — ah — did you know Mystique and Sabretooth are a thing? Am I just really late to the scene because I didn't do the X-Men thing when I was a kid or what?"

"Eeew, how did you find out about that?" Kitty asked with her nose scrunched up.

"Well, they were in town," David explained.

"They what now?" Kitty said, stopping cold as she looked up at him.

"Yeah — didn't you guys know they were here? I mean, he's hard to miss," David said, honestly surprised to hear that Kitty didn't know.

"No, we … I need to make a phone call," Kitty said, shaking her head. "I wasn't aware they were back together either. That's just … ugh."

"Yeah, it was gross to watch from that distance too," David said with a little smirk.

"Okay, you know a while back, there was a high level politician named Graydon Creed, right? That … was their son."

David stopped short. "No," he said, shaking his head. "That is just… wasn't he… what?"

"I know. Just …" She shook her head as she picked her phone up to her ear. "Of course he's not answering. Of course." She shook her head and left a quick message before she turned back to David. "I think our next course of action is for you to tell Rachel everything you remember. Logan wants to nail this guy. Bad."

"Yeah, alright, sure," David said with a shrug. "Not much to tell, though. He and Mystique were just kinda… there?"

"I know. But if you could concentrate on where they were … she might be able to track them down."

"Can do," David promised. "I was going to ask her for a hand anyway. Some of the tech I picked up is heavy, and…" He gestured at himself. "I'm the tech guy, not the muscle."

"Right," Kitty said with a smirk. "You can ask Peter for help too … and I can help if Rachel gets caught up in her search."

"Yeah, pretty much any one of you guys is better than me," David pointed out with a little laugh.

Kitty shook her head and the two of them headed off to find Rachel, who was already sitting in a quiet spot while Bobby played with their little one. "She overheard you two," he explained.

"Right," David said, shaking his head. "Just happened to be eavesdropping, right?"

"Projecting," Rachel corrected. "You were projecting a pretty fair amount of panic when you spotted them."

"Uh, yeah? Obviously?"

"Eavesdropping," Bobby agreed.

David smirked at Bobby and nodded as he dropped down into the nearest seat. "So you know about the therapy fuel, right?"

"Oh yeah," Bobby agreed.

"Any clue what they're doing in our neighborhood? I mean, Kitty said that he and Wolverine had a spat or something going on…"

Rachel pulled a face and shook her head. "That's kind of understating things," Rachel said and glanced over to Kitty. "Expect a visit from your surrogate dad."

"Oh no," Kitty deadpanned.

"Right?" Rachel laughed. "They've been pinpointing all of his hidey holes, but I don't think Chicago was on the list."

"Well, that seems like an oversight of major proportions," David said.

"Not if it's new — or if it's very old," Rachel replied.

"Well, if they're regulars, the second one seems likely," David said. "But if it's new, I bet I can find it on the records. Older records aren't digitized yet, but… I can look anyway."

"His real name is Victor Creed. Have fun looking," Kitty told him. "K said he regularly uses family names too. His mom's name is Victoria."

"Not too much of a change to do a search. His name's in hers. I can do the same search and tweak the parameters to leave it open for additions to the name. Not hard," David said. "Unless it's under Mystique's name — then I can't help you."

"He wouldn't put his interests under her name, but if you want to look, try 'Raven Darkholme'."

"Hey, it gives me something to do with my time," David said with a shrug.

"Don't say that too loud," Bobby advised. "Logan has a way of giving people projects that take forever."

"Don't really care about the length of time as long as it's challenging," David said. "I actually like getting lost in a good challenge."

"I'll let him know," Kitty replied, the phone in her hand ringing. "Expect homework."

"This is a school," David pointed out with a laugh.

"Yeah, but usually we don't let visiting teachers assign stuff," Bobby replied.

"We don't do things the normal way," David smirked, shrugging as he got to his feet before he paused. "Hey, Rachel, could you give me a hand with some tech I bought earlier? I have zero muscle mass."

* * *

It was clear when Logan showed up in Chicago — not for the poof of smoke that announced his arrival with Kurt but the squeal of laughter as Kitty tackled both of them in a hug.

"It's almost like you missed us," Kurt laughed as he spun her around in a hug.

"No way. She does this for everyone," Logan teased.

"Oh shut up, both of you," Kitty laughed, rolling her eyes.

"We're not going after him right now," Logan told her. "But if he makes a move on the school, I'll deal with it."

"So far, the only reason anyone even knew he was here was David went into the city for some supplies. We haven't seen him at the school," Kitty said.

"Who's David?" Logan asked, and he and Kurt shared a troublemaking look. "Star pupil? Kitty's favorite?"

"Oh, please," Kitty said, waving her hand at them both. "I hired him on to take over on tech for me so I could focus on running the school."

"So ... does he call you Mrs. Quill or Professor Kitty?" Logan asked, grinning wider. "I gotta know."

"First of all, you're not funny," Kitty said, sticking her finger in his face before she shook her head.

"You're right. I forgot. Headmistress Kitty."

"Just Shadowcat," Kitty said, shaking her head. "It's easier for all the kids."

The two of them shared a smirk. "Lead the way, Headmistress Kitty," Kurt said with a sweeping bow.

Kitty hit him in the arm and rolled her eyes again before they headed down to Chicago's Danger Room, which was currently about halfway through construction; David was clearly playing around with a few different tweaks. He poked his head out from around a corner of metal that he was putting together — fixing up some of the sensors in the walls and floors — and grinned at the group of them.

"Headmistress Kitty says you need a project," Logan said, now clearly just to tweak her, and she rolled her eyes and made a face at him.

David grinned and shrugged. "I can always use something new to do," he said, wiping his hands off on his pants.

Logan took the flash drive he had in his front pocket and offered it to David. "That's a copy of most of what we found already. Can't be complete or we'd have spotted him by now. SHIELD is watching for him."

"Well, Kitty gave me a few names to search under, and I'll cross-check what you've got too," David said with a nod.

"The rest of his aliases are in the 'alternate little bitch' file," Logan told him. "I didn't name it."

"Who did?" David asked, chuckling.

"My wife," Logan admitted.

"Well, her naming skills are impressive," David said before he pocketed the flash drive.

"You have no idea," Logan chuckled.

"Right. So, are you two gonna stick around?" Kitty asked, turning to Logan and Kurt. "You should at least come and play with Jay and Tris for a while."

Logan drew in a deep breath and then looked to Kurt. "Little while, sure."

"Great."

The little group headed back up to the main part of the school, where Logan and Kurt were more or less attacked by little kids. Tristan McCoy went rocketing for Logan at full speed, tickled when he simply scooped him up and tossed him. And Willow Drake went right to Kurt, giggling when she got the same treatment.

"Can I ride on your shoulders?" Tristan asked Logan, grinning madly as he spotted Jayce on Peter Quill's shoulders coming to meet them.

"Won't get you very high," Logan said with a little laugh.

"No, my dad is taller," Tristan agreed. "Please?"

"Sure, kiddo," Logan said, helping him climb up.

"Silly," Willow giggled, perfectly content where she was snuggling with Kurt, and he just laughed.

"Looks like Kate's gonna be mad when you get back," Logan said low. "Phoenix glitter."

Kurt smirked Logan's way. "Not you too."

"Why not?"

"Your wife has been teasing her often enough," Kurt laughed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Logan replied.

"Yes, I'm sure you haven't heard any of the Catholic jokes… or any of the insistence Kate's been giving K right back that you two are behind the Summers clan," Kurt chuckled.

"We're not behind the Summers' clan in anything," Logan shot right back. "Besides, we've got time on our side."

"You do," Kurt laughed. "And Kate would say the same thing. She's not so old, after all. As you like to remind me."

"I think you're a little oversensitive, Not-As-Blue-Elf."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Right."

Tristan leaned over Logan's head to look at him upside down. "Are you talking about babies? Because Peter talks about babies a _lot_."

"Yeah, we are," Logan told him.

Peter Quill was shaking his head at Tristan. "They're just joking around, kiddo."

"Not really," Logan said.

"So do you want a baby girl too?" Tristan asked, grinning wide. "I said I want a brother."

"Brothers are annoying," Jayce said, sticking his tongue out at Tristan.

"You don't get to pick what you get, little guy," Logan told him.

"Yeah, but I get to hang out with Jay all the time," Tristan explained. "And Willow's really little."

"Baby would be even smaller," Kurt pointed out. "If you want to play with other kids your age, you need to have your parents bring you by. We're having a Halloween party soon, you know."

"For Sying," Jayce said, grinning.

"And for Halloween," Logan said.

"Can we dress up?" Tristan asked.

"It's a requirement," Kurt promised.

"Well, that sounds like a lot of fun," Jayce said. "I'm gonna be a space alien for Halloween this year. Dad said I could have some of his old stuff."

"Fitting," Logan said, giving Peter a little look.

Peter held out his hands. "Yeah. The kid looks good in a Ravager suit, okay?"

"Silly," Willow giggled again, still totally curled up with Kurt.

"It fits the theme," Kurt said, smirking. "Space pirate is still a pirate."

"Barely," Logan mumbled.

Peter just scooped Jayce up off of his shoulders and set him down to go get his Ravager jacket to show Logan. "Kids say the weirdest things, right?" he said Logan's way, clearly a little rattled that his son had just busted him on wanting more kids to his practically father-in-law.

"Yeah, just let the truth out at the most inconvenient times," Logan deadpanned.

"He — uh — yeah," Peter said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean... " He let out a sigh. "We were both only kids so it's — you know — a thing."

Logan let out a sigh. "Quill. Zip it."

Peter shut his mouth, and Willow giggled. "Ooooooh. T-ubble," she said, grinning with a look that was so much like Bobby's it had Kurt chuckling.

"Thanks, Willow. That's real helpful," Peter said, shaking his head.

"I thought it was entirely appropriate," Kurt laughed.

"It was," Logan agreed. "She's gotta get her timing from her mother."

"Well, she did get her looks from her father; it's probably best she got her mother's smarts," Kurt laughed as Willow snuggled into him some more.

"Well, this is a group of troublemakers," Kitty said as she walked into the room and popped up on her toes to kiss Peter on the cheek, with Jayce just behind her positively strutting around with his Ravager jacket and grinning widely.

"T-ubble," Willow agreed, giggling.

"Look! See!" Jayce said, throwing his arms out to spin around and show off his outfit. "See, Grampa Wolvie? I'm amazing!"

Balancing Tristan carefully, Logan picked up Jayce one-armed. "Yeah, looks good on you kiddo," he told him as the little guy beamed.

"I look just like my dad!" Jayce said, grinning. "Mom has one too — did you see?"

"I did," Logan told him with a little smirk. "But I thought she looked better in her X-Men uniform."

Kitty rolled her eyes at Logan. "Which one?"

"Any one but the thing with the legwarmers," Logan shot back without even thinking.

Kitty stared at him for a moment before she burst into a laugh at hit him in the arm. "I looked good in everything, and you know it."

"No one would look good in that, darlin'," Logan told her as the two little boys jockeyed for the best snuggling position.

"Is your mom gonna wear space pirate stuff for Halloween too?" Tristan asked Jayce.

"I dunno. Maybe," Jayce said, shrugging.

"So is this what the X-Men do for weightlifting?" Anton asked from the doorway — he had paused on the way down the hall on seeing Logan holding the two little boys on either arm.

"Usually, for Logan, it's little girls," Kurt teased.

"That _is _how the blog reads," David added from across the room.

"Shut up, both of ya," Logan growled out.

"That's not a nice thing to say," Tristan told Logan with a little frown.

Logan turned his way, perfectly straight-faced and curled up his lip with a deeper growl.

Tristan fell apart laughing but still tried to shake his head. "That's not a nice thing to say either!"

"I still do it."

"My dad doesn't do it lots, but if I ask him to, it's funny," Tristan told Logan in a little whisper. "I can't growl, though," he added, this time with a frown and a bit of a pout.

"You're a little small for that," Logan told him.

"I wanna learn," Tristan said.

"You'll do it if you can," he told him. "Not everyone can."

"I can!" Jayce said before pulling out his best attempt at a growl, doing his very best to imitate Logan in the process.

"Close, but I don't think you've quite got it," Logan told him before he dropped the growl down low.

Jayce and Tristan both fell apart in big belly laughs as they tried — and failed — to match Logan's low, low growl, with Willow laughing hysterically as well. "Silly," she told Kurt, though Kurt had both eyebrows raised Logan's way for how low the growl had gone.

"You can cut it out now," Kitty said, rolling her eyes Logan's way.

"You'd think so," Logan shot back, smirking at the corner of his mouth.

She shot him a dry look before she crossed over to where he was so she could pick up Jayce, though Jayce was hanging onto Logan's arm and giggling, "Do it again," over and over.

"Maybe next time, kiddo," Logan told him. "Not much in the mood for that right now."

"Yeah, you gotta get growly to do it right," Tristan said knowledgeably, nodding along. He looked up at Logan with a huge, crooked grin. "You do it lower than my dad."

"I can go lower if I'm mad," Logan told him.

"That's okay," Jayce said, patting Logan on the shoulder. "We're having fun, not getting mad."

"That's right. So do you think you boys could help me fill up some water balloons?" Kitty asked, finally getting Jayce to get down and then popping up to kiss Logan on the cheek. "And you are _fine_. Stop that."

"Never gonna happen, Punkin'."

Kitty shook her head and kissed his cheek again. "I've got this," she said. "Stop being so… you."

"Still never gonna happen," he replied. "And I know you got it. All the angles."

Kitty rolled her eyes at him before she took the boys upstairs to get set up for a water fight, while Kurt was still shaking his head at his friend as he let Willow down so she could chase after the boys.

"Are you alright, _mein Freund_?" Kurt asked in a low tone.

"Right as rain, Elf," Logan replied in a breath.

Kurt raised an eyebrow and then shook his head. "Of course you are," he said before he put a hand on his shoulder. "Then perhaps you can practice your weightlifting with a few of the kids in Westchester," he teased.

"As long as we're not doing the tour all the way around, sounds good to me," Logan replied before he looked over to David. "Any more addresses or coordinates - send them right to me, got it?"

"You got it!" David called out, already knee deep back in what he was working on.


	12. You Get What You Get

**Chapter 12: "You Get What You Get"**

When Halloween came around, the big party was in LA, where Storm had the mood lighting and everything set up. Kurt had arrived to help with the pirate decorations a little early, which meant Krissy got to spend a whole day with Sying playing with the pirate decorations.

And since they were so close to the beach, that meant once the rest of the kids started to arrive, there was plenty of sandcastle-building and swimming before the sun went down.

"And then I got a bullseye, and Mama said I could pick out my favorite ice cream because it was so hard," Krissy was telling Sying, who listened with rapt attention, as they made their sandcastle together.

"So you got chocolate, right?"

"Mint chocolate chip," Krissy corrected him.

"Oh, I thought you liked chocolate."

"I do, but mint is yummy, and that's what I wanted," Krissy explained.

"Mint _is _yummy," Charlie added as she and Chance poked in on their castle. "Can we borrow your bucket?"

"Sure," Krissy said.

"We're building a bigger outer wall," Chance explained.

"To keep out dragons?" Krissy asked.

Chance nodded. "Yep! Plus we got done early because Elin was helping us, and we have more people."

"We're almost done," Krissy said, wrinkling her nose. "It's not a race."

"Yeah, and if it was, I'd win," Chance shot back, grinning, and Krissy stuck her tongue out at him.

"Oh yeah?" Krissy asked as she got to her feet, her hands on her hips. "Rematch!"

"We don't have time to build another castle before dinner," Charlie started to explain, but Chance was already running to catch up to Krissy. Neither of them was listening to their friends. At all.

"Should we … do something?" Sying asked Charlie.

"No," Charlie said, shaking her head. "They're both having fun."

Sying shrugged and then gestured at the nearly-finished castle he and Krissy _had _been building. "Do you wanna help?" he offered. "I don't think Krissy is gonna come back."

Charlie grinned and sat down in the sand by Sying, scooping the last of the castle's moat out while Sying worked on the outer walls. And Sying wasn't wrong: by the time the adults came out to gather up the kids and help the younger ones get changed out of their swimwear, Chance and Krissy were completely wrapped up in trying to one-up each other, not only making a faster castle but a bigger one.

"Krissy, it's time to come in," Kate told the little girl, but she was already shaking her head.

"Five more minutes. I gotta put in another tower," Krissy said without looking up at her mom.

"My moat is deeper!" Chance called out.

"My towers are taller!" Krissy shot back.

"It's getting dark, and you both were invited to Sying's birthday party, so you should be there for cake and ice cream," Kurt said, scooping Krissy up to her feet while Chance looked triumphant finishing off his tower before Annie pulled him to his feet too.

"You didn't win," Krissy said, sticking her finger out at Chance.

"I so did," Chance shot back.

"You are both ridiculous," Charlie said, meeting them at the door and shaking her head at them.

"Oh, come on. Stop trying to be a grown-up," Chance told his sister as they headed in to change into their pirate costumes.

"I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

Krissy giggled as she followed Kate to one of the bathrooms so she could change. "Charlie and Chance fight all the time," she reported.

"They're siblings," Kate said. "That happens."

"Me and Kari don't fight a lot."

"A lot," Kate repeated, shaking her head as she helped Krissy change into her pirate costume.

They rejoined the rest of the party, where Noh had set up a treasure for the kids to find, complete with maps that Jubilee had made that would lead them to the pile of chocolate gold coins. The cake was decorated to look like a pirate ship, and by the time Sying had blown out the candles, all the kids were getting totally into the pirate theme.

Jayce had arrived at the party with his parents as well, but once the cake and ice cream got started, he got distracted when he spotted Logan and rushed over to wrap his arms around him in a hug. "Did you see? Do you see? I got to wear my dad's outfit!"

"I see that," Logan nodded, tossing him up in the air for good measure. "No one wears it better, kiddo."

"I'm a space pirate!" he agreed. He looked over both shoulders and then leaned in. "Do you think we can have a party for _my _birthday with X-Men costumes, Grampa Wolvie? Huh?"

"If that's what you want, I don't see why not. Just talk to Hawkeye. She loves to plan these things out."

"Okay," Jayce agreed before he wrapped Logan in another hug.

Jayce had barely scuttled off to go play with the rest of the kids when Kitty came up beside Logan to bump his hip with hers. "Saw that."

"Hey trouble," Logan said before he turned her way.

"He's been excited to show off his costume this whole time," Kitty said with a laugh.

"Looks like he's divin' in well enough."

"He's going through a space phase," Kitty explained. "We've got an astronomy department, and his dad's determined to teach him all the constellations. They hook onto things like that."

"I'm sure he's a natural," Logan replied with a little smirk as he watched the kids run off, then shook his head as K startled Quill half out of his skin with a growl from right behind him.

Peter put his hand over his heart and took a deep breath trying to catch it. "Don't _do _that!"

"Don't do what?" she asked innocently before she let out a chuckle and wrapped him up in a hug. "Can't a girl growl?"

He shook his head at her. "You weren't around last time your other half was in Chicago."

"Oh, I heard _all about it_," she promised before shrugging up one shoulder. "He's fine. Don't worry about it."

"Ah." Peter rubbed the back of his neck. "So!" He straightened up a little. "Have you seen Jayce in his jacket?"

"I have," she said, taking his arm. "Spitting image of his father, too. Adorable."

He grinned widely at that. "You know, he's been wanting to learn all about space ever since we had that massive unplanned space field trip watching out for the kids during the Board incident. I was thinking about taking him out during the summer — you know, see the good parts of space…"

"Yeah, avoid the slummy spots with Space Summerses." She leaned closer to him. "I heard those suck."

"Yeah, they kinda do," Peter said, leaning in with a grin. "Not that my team couldn't totally kick Space Summers butt."

"Oh, I kinda want to meet him," she agreed. "Just to say 'hi'."

"Well, last I saw him, the Guardians had totally kicked his butt, so I can see if there's a visitor's' schedule at the prison."

"Hmm, that might work. Any rotten ex-Accusers with attitudes in there? I may be holding a grudge."

Peter laughed. "Yeah, there's usually at least a couple in there… few Shi'ar… buncha Skrulls ever since their home planet was overrun…"

"Sounds like a party."

"Yeah, I kinda miss it," Peter admitted.

She tipped her head to the side and popped up on her toes to kiss his cheek. "But you have so much more here."

"Oh, absolutely," he said, nodding quickly. "Wouldn't trade it for anything, obviously."

"Then you have nothing to worry about, space son o' mine."

"Not worried," he promised. "Excited, happy, all those things, yeah." He gestured toward where Jayce was showing off his jacket to Melody and Celeste. "Proud too. That kid is a flirt."

"Must get it from his mother."

"Oh, definitely," Peter laughed as he draped an arm around her shoulders. "So… how mad's your husband?"

"He'll get over it."

"He knows I married her, right? It's totally normal to want to have a family?"

"Like that makes a difference," K chuckled.

"... it should?"

"You do know that he got me pregnant before we got married, right? He's just like this."

"Okay, but he can't actually talk. I mean, you guys have three of the cutest kids of all time. Kitty loves Jayce, Jayce loves his grandparents… come on. What's the problem? Is he this way with Noh?"

She shook her head and gave Peter another kiss on the cheek. "He's worse with Noh and better at the same time. If nothing else because, for Jubes, the whole process goes so fast, he's more worried about her and doesn't have time to get mad." She smiled a little wider. "Noh keeps away from him, and as far as Logan is concerned, he doesn't exist for a little while. And _timing_ had a lot to do with that."

"Yeah… we're bad at that. Timing, I mean," Peter said.

"He didn't give you that hard of a time with Jayce, did he?" K asked. "He was a little more concerned with other things. Right now? You've got no buffer, sweetheart."

"See, I'm trying really hard not to say something stupid like 'I wish there were distractions' because that's asking for it?"

"I'll distract him in other ways. We have a hunt to deal with, after all."

"Yeah, how's that going, anyway? I know you totally stole Kitty's star pupil," Peter laughed.

"You know, amazingly, Victor has really advanced encryption going on to cover his tracks. Hate to admit it, but he's a lot smarter than he looks."

"He'd have to be, considering how he looks."

"He had _someone _twist around Stark tech to hide him," K told him quietly. "So it's a little bit of an uphill battle. Tony was _so _mad when he figured that part out."

"Yeah, he would be," Peter chuckled. "You let me know if you need any backup, alright? Not opposed to watching the kids or something."

"Sweetheart, you just hold down the fort, snuggle your girl and that sweet boy, and I'll send you the big game hunting picture I've been dying to snap."

Peter shrugged openly. "Offer's open as long as you need it — for Sabretooth or whatever else comes up."

"And I'll keep you on my speed dial," she promised. "I've already got Scott hovering waiting for the go signal on Creed, and Tony's starting to push too."

"Well, he's kind of a huge creep," Peter pointed out. "Freaked David right out, and all he did was see him; he's that much of a creep."

"It's much worse when he gets close," K replied.

"The halitosis alone would _have _to make it worse."

"The scent …. Ugh."

"Not to mention having to listen to the guy," Peter said, starting to laugh. "If cheese graters had vocal chords…"

"See, that's the worst part. When he isn't trying to growl at the same time, he doesn't _sound _terrible."

Peter shook his head. "No, no. You're not doing it right. This is an insult-the-bad-guy session. I know you didn't start out an X-Man, but you've been one long enough to get it, right?"

"I am a remedial student. 'S why I live in a school. With my teacher."

Peter laughed. "Well, lemme give you a hand with that. I could start on any villain you want, and we'll just work our way through the rogue's gallery…"

"I can work with that," she laughed. "But right now, why don't you walk with me over to my sweetheart and I'll make sure he doesn't growl at you?"

"But I wanna make fun of people," Peter laughed even as he took her arm.

"I thought that was an open invitation," she shot back. "We can start with whoever irks you the most."

"That's a tossup," Peter said. "Honestly, not much I can complain about lately, seeing as my usual problems are dealt with or too far out to be an issue. Hala's been fighting itself… the Shi'ar haven't been an issue lately… J'son's been quiet since we kicked him out of Hala forever ago…"

"So Star Lord gets to take a sabbatical."

"Pretty much," Peter said, shrugging. "I get to help Kitty with the school."

"And cross your fingers for a little girl while you 'help'."

"I… hey." Peter shook his head. "Talk like that gets me in trouble with your old man."

"He is hoping for a girl too. Don't worry."

Peter stared at her for a moment and then burst into laughter. "Of course he is."

"I personally love it when all the little girls mob him. He can't fight them."

"Yeah, I've heard the stories from Kitty, not to mention the ones we got now," Peter pointed out, gesturing to where Kari and Krissy were playing with Logan, grinning and giggling and pulling on his arms and they tried to take him down while Jayce and Sying were sharing a stack of chocolate coins, cheering the girls on and laughing.

As they walked through the patio, K reached over and pulled Elin closer, crouched down in front of her, and put her feathered pirate hat on the little girls' head. "You, sweet little Captain, need to gather yer crew and get that scurvy dad of yours."

Elin grinned and started to laugh as she nodded her head. "On it," she giggled before she took off in the opposite direction. Not five minutes later, she, along with every other little girl in the party, went stampeding toward Logan, giggling and waving their plastic swords.

"Now, it's a party," K told Quill.

"You did that on purpose," he laughed.

"They needed a captain to unite them," she decided.

"You gotta play too, Grammy K!" Celeste called out.

"When you get him captured, let me know," K told her, which got a look of sheer betrayal from Logan.

"Do we gotta tie him up?" Kari asked. "That's what bad guys do when they capture good guys."

"Probably be a good idea then," K agreed as Peter started to laugh outright.

Charlie was shaking her head at Logan as he gave K such a look. "Don't do that. You like her."

"Only thing I'm gonna do is throw her in the ocean," Logan countered.

"Mmm, no," Charlie said, shaking her head. "I think you're gonna kiss her."

"Then why would you tell me not to?" Logan asked as the little girls continued to mob him.

"Cuz you were looking like _that_." She gestured at his face. "And you didn't mean it. So you shouldn't lie with your face."

Logan stared at her for that one. "It's part of the game, isn't it?"

She put her hand on her hip to consider him and then let out a sigh. "Okay," she decided before she jumped up to tackle him.

The girls finally pinned Logan, giggling and grinning the whole way, though the others had not missed the conversation with Charlie. But Kate was watching the goings on and rested her chin on Ks shoulder. "You know," she mused. "I wonder if Charlie _knows _more than she realizes."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Peter asked.

Kate nodded onto K's shoulder. "Right, right," she said. "You weren't around when me and Kurt went to the future."

"You what?" Peter laughed.

"Yeah, it was this horrible, horrible future that we stopped. Long story. Point is, we got to see some of the oldest kids all grown up. And Charlie? Was an empath."

"No kidding?" Peter said, one eyebrow raised.

Kate nodded. "Yeah. She could tell what everyone was feeling. Actually, since the whole world was so filled with evil, she had a hard time, with everyone so miserable all the time."

Peter winced one eye shut. "Yeah, that sounds… no good."

Kate nodded. "In _that _future, she could tell what she was doing, but maybe…" She gestured toward the playing kids. "She might not know she's doing it. Don't powers start kinda slow at first? Stop and start? That's what we're seeing with the kids at the schools, right?"

"I am a terrible person to ask about that," K admitted. "I think for the non-passive abilities, probably, that sounds right."

"Well, I mean, I don't know if hers is active?" Kate said thoughtfully. "The one in the horrible future couldn't turn hers off, but I don't know if that was just because all the adults were being tortured or…"

"If she didn't have training, then she wouldn't be able to control it," K said. "But to the best of my knowledge, anyone with anything even remotely psychic can turn it off."

"So, do I tell Scott or…?" Kate asked.

"I think that would depend on how much more she keeps busting people out," K pointed out.

"Yeah, it's not quite as obvious as Krissy's will be - the purple smoke and all that," Kate said.

"Charlie's old enough for it to be a touch and go thing," K said, watching the kids a little closer. "Hey, Peterquill … go make a smart aleck remark. Logan won't get too snotty with the kids that close, but Charlie will say something if she catches him 'lying with his face' again."

Peter laughed. "I'm calling it that from now on, I hope you know."

"It fits," K agreed. "But unless you know him _well _or happen to be empathic …"

Peter chuckled and headed over to where Logan was still under the pile of girls. He leaned as far over as he could and grinned. "So, bucking for a playmate with all that glitter?"

The growl slipped loose for just a second before Logan narrowed his eyes at Quill. "Why don't you give me a hand up?"

"That's okay. I mean, I could just help the girls drag you to K if you don't think they can haul you…"

"We can do it!" Melody insisted.

"Girls, _no_," Logan said, looking entirely unamused.

"We _can_," Celeste agreed with her sister, seizing one of Logan's ankles as Melody seized the other and the two little half-Kree started to drag Logan over to where K was — to Peter's pure glee.

And he wasn't the only one. Kate was barely holding herself up on K's shoulder, but Scott nearby wasn't even trying to hold back, clutching his stomach from laughing so hard and laid out on the ground.

"Thank you girls," K said with a grin as she glanced over to Scott and knelt down next to Logan. "My favorite party favor."

"Logan said we couldn't," Melody explained.

"But we _can_."

"I didn't say you couldn't," Logan growled out. "I just told you not to."

"Well, we captured you," Melody reasoned. "So... " She shrugged, and Celeste giggled.

"And they were taking you to me anyhow," K added before she kissed him. "So it's _fine._"

Charlie patted Logan's shoulder. "It's okay. They're little," she said.

"We brought you to Grammy K!" Celeste agreed, grinning.

"I think I might keep him like this for a while," K said, outright trying to get a rise out of him.

Charlie frowned and looked between K and Logan before she bit her lip and shook her head. "Ummm, that's okay; I can untie you, Logan," she said.

"No, no," K said, pulling her into a hug. "I've got him now."

Charlie wriggled a bit and then shot K a strange look. "It's not _funny _to make him _mad_."

"You think I'm making him mad?" K asked, and when Charlie turned to look at Logan, K shot him a raised eyebrow look over Charlie's shoulder that clued him in that she was _working. _

"Well he _is_," Charlie said.

K let her go, took the rope in her hand that the girls had used, and very quickly cut it along his wrists. "Still think so?"

Charlie started to giggle as she shook her head. "Not so much _now_," she said. "But you were making him mad before! You and Peter Quill!"

"He knows I'm not going to make him mad on purpose," K promised before she pulled Logan up to a sitting position and kissed him. "See, it's fine."

Charlie sighed and then reached up and hugged K around the neck before she gave her a kiss. "Okay," she said, then dropped her voice to a whisper. "The little girls didn't _mean _to make him mad. You gotta tell him that, okay? Cuz he's still kinda grumpy."

"I think he's grumpy about something else, angel," K told her. "But I'll do everything I can to make him feel better."

Charlie grinned and nodded. "That's a good idea. My dad gets less grumpy when he's with my mom too."

"Is that the only time he's less grumpy?" K asked, sitting next to Logan and leaning on him now.

Charlie pointed over to where Scott was still grinning even after he'd stopped laughing. "No," she giggled. "Obviously!"

"It made Logan mad, so it got your dad laughing. It was kinda funny." K leaned closer to her again. "How mad is Logan now?"

Charlie glanced toward Logan and shrugged. "I dunno. Still a little, I guess. He's kind of always a little growly."

"I like that," K said, nodding. "What about Peterquill? How's he doing?"

Charlie shrugged. "He made Logan mad earlier," she said. "Like, really, really mad."

"I know, but what about Peter? Peter isn't mad, is he?"

Charlie looked up at Peter, scrunched up her nose, and shook her head. "No… he's not mad. I've never seen Peter Quill get mad, though."

"He's not entirely happy either, is he?" K said, leading Charlie a little closer to it. "Maybe he's sad."

"No," Charlie said, shaking her head quickly. "Maybe…" She tipped her head to the side as she looked up at Peter. "Ummm… I think he's scared, but that doesn't make any sense, so I don't think that's right."

"He _smells _scared," Logan added.

"You know I was purposefully riling you, right?" Peter said, half behind K.

"You've been smellin' like that since the last time I saw you," Logan pointed out, and K turned to cover his mouth with her hand.

"Play nice. Please," she told him very quietly.

"There's no reason for being scared," Charlie added helpfully Peter's way, then looked around at the other adults. "How come everybody's so curious?"

"Can you always tell what everyone is feeling?" Logan asked without taking his gaze off of her. "Or just when it's easy to pick up?"

Charlie wrinkled her nose at him. "What are you talking about?"

He got to his feet and offered her his hand. "Let's go see Rachel for a minute."

"Do you wanna play with Willow?" she asked, shooting him a grin. "She can say my name now! Did you know?"

"Yeah, I'll play with Willow for a minute," Logan promised with a smirk. "We'll grab your dad on the way too."

"Oh, good. He likes playing with Willow," Charlie said, grinning as she took his hand.

Logan stole a kiss from K before the two of them headed off, and K turned to Kate. "Does that answer your question? Whatever it was."

"Yeah, more or less," Kate said, a bit wide-eyed. "Charlie was like that in the future too."

"Like what? Adorable and empathic?"

"And could name whatever was happening without thinking about it, yeah," Kate said.

"Logan's easy. He's always got a low level mad lately," K said with a shrug. "The curious bit, though — that was the clincher."

Kate nodded. "They grow up so fast," she teased.

Meanwhile, Charlie and Logan had made their way over to where Scott was, and when Scott saw the look on Logan's face, he stood up and tipped his head their way. "What's up?"

"Just need to grab you, Rach, and the baby," Logan told him.

"Logan's gonna see Willow 'cause he hasn't heard her say my name," Charlie said, grinning.

"And Charlie was just showing K how _perceptive _she is," Logan said quietly. "She's very sensitive to emotions."

"I don't like it when people are mad or sad," Charlie said.

"Yeah, you're sweet," Scott said, though he was already following Logan and Charlie into the school, where Rachel had zipped off for a little privacy to put Willow to sleep. Willow was being a little fussy for Rachel, repeating "no" and "stop" as Rachel shushed her.

"C'mon, Rach, I'll trade you," Logan said when they got closer.

Rachel looked up at Logan and then broke into a relieved little smile as she tipped Willow into his arms. "Done."

"You get your sister too," Logan said with a smirk, then gave Willow a little kiss on the top of her head as she snuggled in.

"Sure thing," Rachel said, offering Charlie her hand as she projected to both Logan and Scott, _Anything special? Dad's worried; you're projecting … _

_Baby sis is an empath,_ Logan said. _She was reading me like a book. _

_That explains the complete and total non-amusement I was getting from you earlier, _Rachel smirked.

_Willow will be asleep when you see her next. Have fun,_ Logan replied and simply walked off to a quieter area to leave the Summers trio to themselves.

After Logan left, Charlie looked between her sister and her dad and shifted slightly. "I'm not in trouble, am I?"

"Of course not," Scott promised quickly. "Rachel and I just want to see how good you are at reading people's emotions."

"Okay." Charlie looked between the two of them. "Is this 'cause Logan was mad earlier? Because he's mad a lot."

"Is he still mad?" Scott asked with a smirk.

"A little," Charlie said. "But… remember when you and Mom went missing? He came back mad and stayed that way for a long time." She shrugged. "Didn't you know that?"

"Well," Scott said, shrugging a little, "he's mad a lot."

Charlie shrugged. "Not _all _the time." She tipped her head to the side. "How come everyone is asking me about Logan anyway? K was asking me questions too. She was _really _curious about it."

"Because Logan's easy to read," Rachel told her. "And she had him captive, right?"

Charlie nodded. "Uh-huh. We all totally took him down. And Melody and Celeste carried him over to K, and Dad _died _laughing." She grinned over at Scott. "That was really funny, even if Logan was really mad, but don't tell K I said so."

"Well it makes sense that Logan would be a little mad," Rachel said. "I'm sure K thought it was very funny too."

Charlie nodded. "Yeah."

Scott sat down next to Charlie with a little smile. "Do you always know what everyone is thinking?" he tried to ask.

She wrinkled her nose up at him. "No," she said. "That's _Rachel, _not _me_."

"Yeah, _Dad_," Rachel couldn't help but laugh, and Scott gave her a dry, dry look.

Charlie looked between the two of them. "Okay, _what _is going on?" she asked. "You're acting weird, and so is Logan and K and even Peter Quill and Kate!"

When Scott seemed unable to answer her clearly, Rachel shook her head and turned to her little sister. "Are you going to be surprised if I tell you that you're starting to get a mutant ability?"

"I am?" Charlie asked, wide-eyed.

"We're pretty sure that you can read people's emotions," Rachel continued.

Charlie looked even more wide-eyed. "Really?"

"Really," Rachel said. "Even though Dad thinks Logan's easy to read, he's really not. There are usually a lot of different things happening at once, so the fact you could _tell_ is kind of cool."

"It's really cool," Scott added, starting to grin as Charlie finally started to get excited.

"So I get to be like you?" she asked Rachel.

"A little bit different," Rachel told her with a little smile.

"Rachel can tell what people are thinking," Scott explained. "But you can tell what they're feeling."

Charlie bounced on her toes and started to giggle. "Oooh. You're really excited!" she said, pointing at Scott. "This is kind of fun!"

"It is," Rachel said with a smirk. "But you know, now that we know you can do it, you need to figure out how to control it."

Charlie nodded. "Okay… if you say so."

"And you can't just go telling everyone what other people are feeling," Scott added. "That's private."

Charlie made a face. "Yeah, but sometimes people don't _know_."

Rachel smirked. "Yeah, I know. It drives me nuts sometimes too."

"But Rachel's amazing at controlling her powers," Scott added. "So she can help you learn how not to use your powers when people don't want you to peek in on them."

"Is it hard?" Charlie asked.

"A little," Rachel said before she reached over and ruffled Charlie's hair. "Don't worry. We've got plenty of time."

* * *

Chance was sitting at the table back home with his chin on the edge, glaring at the centerpiece that his mom had made. He was in a pretty foul mood, but he was also concentrating really, _really _hard.

"What're you doing, honey?" Annie asked as she sat down next to him.

"I'm trying to figure out what my power is," Chance said, still glaring at the centerpiece.

Annie's smile fell as she watched him concentrating hard, and she let out a sigh. "Sweetheart," she said, "you don't need to have powers."

"Charlie already _has _hers," Chance complained.

"Yes, she does have some pretty neat powers," Annie said. "But you don't need to have powers, Chance."

"Yeah, I _do_," Chance said, still glaring at the centerpiece before he finally looked up at Annie. "Dad has powers, and Charlie has powers, and Rachel and Nate have powers… and Elin has claws! And Krissy has her tail and her fur!"

"And you are the sweetest boy in the whole school," Annie told him.

Chance made a face. "That's not a power, Mom."

"No, but it is a gift."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay."

"Everyone gets different gifts," Annie told him gently. "I don't have any powers either, and neither does Kate, and she's been an Avenger and an X-Man."

Chance let out a sigh. "Yeah, okay, Mom," he said.

"I hope you're saying nice things about me in here, because if not…" Kate said as she shouldered her way into the kitchen, carrying a few bags of groceries with some snack food and ice cream.

"Always," Annie said with a little smile. "I was just telling Chance that you're a great hero and you don't have powers either."

"Ah," Kate said, nodding her understanding as she looked between Chance's expression and Annie's. "Yeah, I totally ran the Young Avengers when I was younger. Billy's a demigod, and he listened to me."

Chance glanced up at Kate and narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, but _everyone _in my family has powers," he said. "Except Mom, but she just runs things."

"Well, what about your Uncle Anton? He's pretty amazing, right?"

"Yeah…"

"And my mentor, the other Hawkeye? He's never had any powers and he taught me how to keep up with gods and magic-users and mutants and super soldiers and aliens," Kate added.

"But I _want _to have powers!" Chance broke in, his eyes wide.

Annie and Kate shared a look before Annie let out a sigh. "You can be an X-Man without any powers," she said. "You're going to get a headache staring at that, honey."

"I'm trying to see if I can get laser eyes," Chance explained.

"Honey," Annie said gently, "you don't have laser eyes. You're human, like me."

Chance glared between Annie and Kate before he stuck his chin out, lower lip quivering, and then ran out of the kitchen, slamming the door behind him as hard as he could. He had almost made it to the barn when he ran almost right into Elin.

She took a step back and looked him up and down before she tipped her head to the side. "Are you okay?"

Chance quickly scrubbed his hand over his face and stuck his chin out. "I'm _fine_."

She frowned and narrowed her eyes. "Well if you're gonna be mad at me for no reason …" She shook her head and moved to step around him. "Have fun bein' mad."

Chance shook his head and glared. "I'm not mad at _you_," he grumbled with his arms crossed over his chest.

She stopped and watched him for a minute. "Then why _are _you mad?"

Chance tried very hard to keep up the glare, but he couldn't quite hold it as his lip started to quiver again. "I don't have any _powers_," he said bitterly.

She crossed her arms. "So? Does that mean you're gonna run away and disappear?"

"_No_," Chance said.

"Does that mean you don't wanna be around me?"

"_No_."

She didn't even bother hiding the fact that she didn't believe him. "Well … I'm gonna go by dad. You can come if you want to." She spoke slowly, waiting for him to get madder.

"I don't really wanna play with anybody right now," Chance said, still trying very hard not to get upset.

"We're not playing," she said, shaking her head. "We're gonna hit stuff. And you look like you could hit stuff."

Chance considered this for a long moment before he sighed. "Yeah… that could be good," he decided.

She let out a breath and simply started up toward the house, with Chance not too far behind her, and when they got to where Logan was setting out some mats, she presented Chance to her father with one hand. "He needs to hit things too."

Logan looked at the little boy and frowned. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing," Chance said through clenched teeth.

"Right," Logan said, raising an eyebrow his way. "Never heard that from anyone before."

"I just wanna hit stuff, okay?" Chance sad grumpily. "Elin said it might help."

Logan nodded, waved him over, and then started to wrap his hands up. "You need to be careful when you hit things and we're not doing martial arts. You could break something."

Chance seemed to get grumpier at that. "Yeah, okay. Fine."

As soon as he was done with Chance, Logan waved Elin over for the same treatment and then started to wrap up his hands too. "Saves your knuckles some trouble too, kiddo." He tipped his chin up at the bags hanging on the far end of the room. "Go ahead. Pound it. I'll be right with you."

Chance nodded once, sharply, before he ran over to one of the bags and put his all into hitting it, going to town until he was good and worn out of his earlier upset mood. And then, he sat down at the edge of the room to get his breath and watched Logan and Elin for a little while.

It wasn't too long before Elin had enough too, and she stepped back to watch her dad stretch a little as he went to working over his bag a lot more aggressively than before now that the kids were out of the way. When he'd decided that the little ones had probably caught their breath, he gave the bag one last hard kick and then turned to where the two of them were seated a few arms' lengths from each other. "You done?" Logan asked, looking at the little boy.

Chance nodded, resting his head on his knees. "Uh-huh."

"Feel any better?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "Elin was right."

"'Bout what?" Logan asked, sitting down cross-legged in front of him and starting to unwrap his hands.

"She said hitting things might help," he explained. "She's really smart."

"Thought you knew that already," Logan said as Elin shook her head.

"Well, yeah," Chance said with a little nod. He glanced over at the punching bag and bit his lip. 'I do like hitting things. It's kind of fun."

Logan nodded and slowed down what he was doing so Chance could see how to re-roll the wraps the right way. "You can keep the red wraps," Logan told him. "Take care of 'em."

Chance grinned. "Thanks, Logan," he said, pulling the wraps a little closer to his chest. He glanced over at Elin's yellow wraps and then took a deep breath. "I wanna learn lots of stuff like this," he said.

"I thought that's what karate was for," Logan said.

"I wanna learn _more_," Chance said, glancing up at Logan with wide-eyes. "I — I'm not — I don't got any powers, so I wanna learn _everything _else."

Logan watched him for a few moments, weighing it out. "Talk to your dad, just because of how young you are. I'll get you started and see what you like."

"All of it," Chance said seriously. "I wanna do all of it."

"One thing at a time, kiddo. Don't want you getting things mixed up if you wanna do 'em right."

Chance let out a long sigh. "_Fine_," he said.

"Hey," Logan said, making sure that Chance looked him in the eyes, "we'll go slow so you get it right, but we can work on stuff more than once a week."

"Really?" he asked, perking up immediately.

"As long as the group stays small, yeah," Logan said. "You and Elin aren't any trouble, and you pick it up faster than the others."

"Well, Krissy's doing swords and her bow anyway," Chance pointed out. "And Charlie's got _Rachel_."

"And you're doing archery and horses and karate and now this," Logan said. "Whatever it is."

"Well, that's 'cause I don't got powers," Chance said.

"Ah," Logan said, nodding once as he finally saw what had Chance so tweaked. "You don't need 'em. Most people with 'em rely on 'em too much anyhow."

"It would be _nice_," Chance grumbled.

"On one hand, maybe," Logan agreed. "But they all come at a price." He took in a breath and held it for a moment. "Your sister can't help but know what everyone is feeling. She can't shut 'em out. She can't ignore it. At all."

Chance stuck his lower lip out. "Fine. That's not fun, I guess."

"Rachel nearly lost it when she couldn't block out hearing other people's thoughts. So did Charlie Xavier."

"Maybe Charlies are just bad at that part," Chance said with a little smirk.

"They both wanted to fix everything that was makin' everyone upset. That's for sure." Logan reached over and ruffled Chance's hair. "But she'll learn to turn it off. Some of 'em don't get turned off. Ever."

"Yeah, my mom told me about how Dad was like when she met him," Chance said. "And Dr. Fuzzy's fuzzy _all _the time."

"And I have to smell everything. Including the fact that you need a shower."

Chance let out a little laugh. "Yeah, I'm pretty sweaty." He climbed to his feet and looked down at his shirt with a little sniff. "I can't smell me, though. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Your dad's about fifty times worse on a good day. I can ignore it."

Chance laughed and shook his head. "Well, let's keep hitting stuff, please," he said.

"I'm here just about every day at this time," Logan told him. "Don't tell your friends."

Chance shook his head and put a finger to his lips. "No, I won't. I promise."

* * *

Chance was feeling a little better by the time he made his way back to his room and climbed up to the top bunk of the bunk bed that he and Charlie shared, picking up his place in the old Western novel that his mom had bought him to read over the summer — which he hadn't finished yet. So he was surprised when Charlie climbed up to the top bunk too to plop herself down on the other side of the bed.

"It's probably not gonna help anything, but I'm jealous too," Charlie told him, and Chance wasn't surprised, all things considered, that she knew exactly why he was mad.

He stared at her for a moment. "Why are _you _jealous?"

"Because I _don't _want powers," Charlie explained, and it was so ridiculous that Chance actually had to laugh at the look on her face — because she actually meant it.

"Why wouldn't you want powers? Powers are so _cool_! And you can so be an X-Man and—"

"I don't want to be an X-Man," Charlie interrupted him, shaking her head. "I want to read books and play the piano."

"You're good at the piano," Chance had to agree, and Charlie drew herself up proudly.

"Miss Daisy says I could be a performer if I keep practicing."

"Yeah, well…" Chance blew out a breath. "I'm pretty good at karate."

"You're _really _good at karate," Charlie agreed. She scooted over so that she was sitting next to him so she could snuggle her brother. "That's why I'm jealous. You're gonna get to be an X-Man no matter what, but I don't _want _to have powers or be an X-Man."

"We should switch," Chance said with a little grin. "I'll have powers, and you can be a famous piano player."

She giggled. "Okay." She laid her head on his shoulder and gave him a little squeeze. "Are you gonna stay mad at me?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

"Good, because it's no fun listening to you," she teased.

He rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah. _You're _really high on my list of concerns."

"Love you too."


	13. Grampa Wolvie

**Chapter 13: "Grampa Wolvie"**

It had been a very long day for Tyler, though he hadn't meant for it to be. His shift at the clinic had been overly busy and was getting busier the closer they got to Thanksgiving and the holidays. People got weird during the holidays — something about families getting together. He'd taken the job at first because working there for a few years would mean all his loans were forgiven but… he actually felt like he was doing good, making a difference there.

Which, as Tammy pointed out, usually meant he stayed a little longer than he had to if he was knee-deep in "making a difference."

Then, on top of that, he'd gone from the clinic to the church for a few interviews — including one for a wedding over the Christmas break that the couple needed temple recommends for. It had been a long, long day. Rewarding, but long.

And when he had days like this, when he got home well after dinner, he always made it a point to pick up something sweet for Tammy to apologize for being gone literally _all _day. Ao he had the bag of chocolates — and his own takeout dinner — in hand as he headed up to the apartment they were living in. It was about halfway between the school and the clinic, perfect for Tammy to go teach and for him to go to work.

He dropped the chocolates off on the counter when he got in. Tammy was down the hall making sure Tristan actually brushed his teeth, and he could hear the argument from where he was. "Tris! Listen to your mom!" he yelled over his shoulder, grinning wider when the response was a lot of squealing as Tristan ran down the hall and Tyler scooped him up in a hug while Tammy gave him a "you did this on purpose" kind of look.

"Have you been giving your mom a hard time?" Tyler asked the little guy, who looked perfectly angelic.

"No!"

"You sure?" Tyler leaned in and dramatically sniffed before he wrinkled his nose. "Hoo, buddy, you need to brush your teeth. Your breath is _horrible_."

"It's not that bad!"

"You can't smell it like I can," Tyler countered, grinning as he shook his head at the little boy.

Tristan let out a long, loud sigh. "F-i-i-i-i-ine," he said, though he didn't make a move to be let down, and Tyler ended up carrying him down the hall to get him to brush his teeth… and change into his pajamas, which was hard to do when he was still wrapped around his dad… and then read a few stories before bed…

Finally, Tristan was totally zonked out curled up on Tyler's lap, and Tyler very, very carefully climbed out from under the little guy so as not to disturb him… after drifting off himself for a few minutes and waking up when Tristan, with a fall cold, started snoring.

He snuck out of the room and down to his and Tammy's, and he was asleep by the time his head hit the pillow. So it felt like no time at all when, the next morning, Tristan was bouncing on the foot of the bed, celebrating the day because it was Jayce's birthday — which meant there was going to be a _party_.

Tristan practically dragged Tammy and Tyler out of bed and directed them to get ready, and Tyler couldn't help but laugh when he realized that Tristan was already dressed — by himself — in his Nightcrawler costume. "You excited about the X-Men costume party?" Tyler asked as if he had no idea.

"Uh-huh! Go _faster_!" Tristan said, still pulling on Tyler's hand as Tyler moved as slowly as he could and Tammy laughed at both of them.

"Mom!" Tristan called out for help, and Tammy happily obliged by socking Tyler in the face with all of his clothes, which had Tristan laughing hysterically.

"Is that what you wanted, honey?" she asked as Tristan kept right on laughing and nodding.

With the combined forces of Tammy and Tristan urging him on, that meant Tyler finally got ready for the party, and about half an hour later, they were all loaded up and headed down to the school, with Tristan in the backseat clutching his present for Jayce to his chest and grinning excitedly as he made sure his high shoulders stood up just right like he wanted them to.

When they got there, Jayce was already dressed up like Wolverine and greeting everyone as they arrived, showing off his "Grampa Wolvie" growl that he had been practicing all month. And Willow was dressed like Iceman, though she was following Jayce around trying to growl too.

"You're pretty close," Tyler said as he grinned and crouched down next to Jayce, ruffling his spiked-up hair.

"No!" Jayce said, batting him away. "Mom took a _long _time to do that!"

"Yeah, don't mess up the 'do, Lifeguard," Peter laughed, then reached down and ruffled Jayce's hair too, earning a dirty look from his son. "What?"

"Oooh, t-ubble," Willow giggled when she saw Jayce's expression.

Peter laughed as he scooped her up to hold her upside down and tickle her as a few more kids started to show up, all of them dressed as different X-Men. The kids from LA all arrived together, with both of Jubilee and Noh's twins dressed exactly the same — in Jubilee's signature yellow coat and sunglasses — so that it was impossible to tell them apart. As for Sying, he had a purple helmet and cape that he had just discovered on the flight over could billow out behind him when he ran fast enough. And Amadi had a perfectly working mechanical arm so that she could dress up as her father.

"That is _so cool_!" Tristan gushed when he saw Amadi's arm.

She grinned at him and stretched and flexed out the arm so he could see it better. "I helped Dad make it."

"No way!"

"Uh-huh!" She nodded enthusiastically before she started pointing out different screws and servos that she'd helped with, obviously proud of her handiwork.

The kids from Westchester were the last to arrive, an army of mini-X-men all spilling out of the blackbird together. Jolie led the way to run over to her big brother to show off her Pixie costume, while Kari wasn't far behind, running up to Kitty to show her that "I look just like my dad because I'm blue too, see?"

Sadie was pretty close behind Kari out of the gate, also making a beeline for Kitty. She was dressed to the nines as Shadowcat — complete with perfectly curled hair — and Kitty just scooped up the little girl with a _look _she couldn't stop. "Who helped you get your hair done like that, huh?" she asked in a wavering voice.

"It's _pretty_," Sadie told her with a bright grin before she threw her arms around Kitty's neck and snuggled in.

"It so is," Kitty agreed, a little choked up, before she found Logan and K to glare at for making her emotional.

"Hey, Kitten," Logan said, ignoring the look she was giving him. "You see the other two around here? They took off."

Kitty glanced around to try and spot the other two Howlett kids, sure that they were going to be just as much trouble as Sadie. When she spotted Elin first — dressed as Psylocke, and with a perfect replica of Scott in Chance following her around — she had to laugh. "Oh my gosh. She's going to kill that kid when she's older."

"He'll love every minute of it," Logan laughed.

Kitty shook her head, finding James, dressed just like Logan, chatting with Kari's tiny Kurt. "And those two are trouble walking too," she said, tipping her head toward them, since her hands were full of Sadie snuggling her.

"I'm told it's genetic," Logan said before he gave her a quick kiss on the side of her head. "Relax a little."

"I _was _relaxed," Kitty said, rolling her eyes as she shifted Sadie. "You did this on purpose," she added.

"Did what? You're the one that threw this silly party," he pointed out. "Seems like you did it to yourself."

"It was _Jayce's _idea," Kitty said, shaking her head.

"As good as your idea then," he replied.

"You're so wrong," Kitty said, shaking her head as she looked around for the rest of the group. Kaleb's costume was the easiest — clearly, Kate had just taken some fabric sheets or something and got his fur all frizzed up so it looked bigger, and he was wearing a stethoscope so there was no mistaking he was Dr. Fuzzy. Krissy was in green short shorts with spray-painted white hair — had to be Marvel Boy — and Chloe had fake vines all wrapped around her costume so she could be her bigger cousin, Amazon. And with Cody in a red Cyclops costume and Charlie as Hawkeye, they had a solid group all around. It was _way _too adorable.

"I'm so starting to regret the party choices," Kitty said, shaking her head as she set Sadie down so she could go play with the others.

"What on earth for?" K asked, looking perfectly innocent. "They're having a blast and it's just getting started."

Kitty gave K a dry, dry look. "Yeah. I grew up with Logan? So I _know _you know what for."

"Hey, they wanted to dress up as their favorites. So ... "

"And the parents had absolutely no say in it, I'm sure," Kitty said, rolling her eyes.

K crossed over and wrapped Kitty up in a hug. "If it was up to me? They'd all be tiny Jubilee with bubble gum shouting 'whatever'."

"Well, two of 'em are like that," Kitty said as she returned the hug with a little smile.

"Yes, but … imagine _all _the little girls in yellow and hot pink mobbing him."

"I dunno… can't we have a few with curly hair?" Kitty asked with a little smirk.

"You know there's only room for _one _with curly hair," K shot right back.

Kitty laughed outright. "Good answer."

"Grampa Wolvie!" Sying called out as he ran over, fast enough that his cape was flying out behind him.

Logan turned in time to catch Sying as he tried to stop and picked him up. "What's going on?"

"Grampa Wolvie, did you _see_? Did you see Jayce is trying to growl and he can't do it and Elin can. You gotta come _play_!"

Logan looked over to Kitty and K. "I guess I'm needed."

With that, Sying started to excitedly tell Logan all about how much fun the party was and how much his sisters looked like his mom — and then of course, the "Grampa Wolvie" shouts started up in stereo as he joined Jayce and Melody and Celeste.

"That is never going to get old," Kitty said with a smirk.

"It's really not," K agreed before she joined arms with her and led her to a quieter spot. "How are you holding up?"

Kitty shrugged lightly, looking over both shoulders. "Well, Lucy says everything looks fine, so…"

"That's not what I asked," she replied.

Kitty let out a long breath. "Actually, I'm really fine. I am just… not looking forward to the end of this. It sorta sucked the first time."

"It'll be fine," K promised. "We'll come by if you want us to. Pretty sure Scott can handle covering classes if we have any going."

"Well, end of May…" Kitty said, trailing off.

"We'll come. Help with whatever you need."

"Jayce would appreciate it," Kitty said with a little smile. "Peter was a mess the first time around, and I wasn't happy, so… he'd probably appreciate some sanity."

"I'll tell Scott when he has his mouth full," K promised.

Kitty snorted out a laughed. "Please do," she agreed.

"I'd do the same to Logan, but he's a lot harder to shake," K told her. "More fun, though."

"Yeah, don't…" Kitty closed one eye shut with a little wince. "I don't wanna hear about it."

"Don't worry about it. He likes when I shake him."

"Sto-o-op," Kitty said, tipping her head back.

"You, Mrs. Quill, are the one that took it the wrong way," K said, leaning back with her into the couch cushions.

The two of them watched the kids playing together for a little while longer before Peter showed up with the cake and with Sadie perched on one of his shoulders as he carried her around with a _huge _grin on his face. He set the cake down on the table and called Jayce over, then caught Kitty's gaze and grinned widely, pointing up at Sadie with a look of pure joy on his face.

"You did this to me," Kitty grumbled K's way.

"No, he did. But I can see the confusion." She leaned closer to Kitty with a little smile. "But we're all pulling for a girl."

"He is too — can you tell?" Kitty said, gesturing toward where Peter and Sadie were.

"Yeah, I knew," K said with a nod. "If you do get a little girl, I'm giving you that costume."

"You'll make Peter's day," Kitty said, shaking her head as she leaned further into the couch cushions. "He's been wanting one for _years_. Pretty much since Jayce started crawling."

"Yeah, don't get me started on your 'Dad'," K said dryly.

"Is he pushing again?" Kitty asked, sitting up straighter and honestly curious.

"That would imply that he ever stops," K laughed.

"I mean… they _are _really cute," Kitty said with a little smirk as she gestured toward the mini-Wolverine, who was helping the mini-Kurt into her seat.

"And Kate keeps saying that every kid needs their own little Howlett. So I just remind him of how much _fun _it was when Sadie came."

"See, I tried to remind Peter that I broke his hand and was having a hard time, you know, not going intangible? But …"

"They forget so fast."

"They didn't live it," Kitty said, sighing as she leaned back, then glanced up at K. "Are you, though? Going to have another, I mean."

"Don't start."

"I'm just asking for comparison. I mean, I made it three years before I caved."

"Right. Asking for a friend '_cough cough_'."

"Asking out of pure curiosity," Kitty laughed.

K drew in a deep breath and turned her head Kitty's way. "I am not anywhere near stupid enough to answer that question for anyone's sake."

"Right." Kitty pushed herself to her feet and shook her head, offering K a hand up. "Well, Jayce is going to blow out his candles, and he'll be disappointed if his grandma isn't there to sing 'Happy Birthday' to him."

K nodded and linked arms with her again as the two of them headed over to the gathering group, where Jayce was beaming all the way through the song and through blowing out his candles. When he was done, he grinned up at the whole group and then climbed up so that he was standing on his chair. "I gotta present I gotta tell you all about!" he half-shouted, looking around to make sure he had everyone's attention. He grinned when he saw that he did before he said, "I'm gonna have a baby brother or sister!"

"Wait, _what_?" Jubilee said, spinning on her heels to face Kitty with wide eyes.

"Surprise!" Kitty said weakly, shrugging both shoulders up.

In an instant, Kurt had teleported over to where she was to wrap her up in a spinning hug and then kiss her cheek. "That's wonderful news, _Katzchen_!" he declared before he spun her again.

Kitty did her best to return the hug, though it was clear to those closest to her that she was a little bit overwhelmed.

"Do you need anything?" Storm asked gently as she took her turn wrapping Kitty up.

"Well, not yet, no," Kitty said, looking around at their friends — who were split between showering Kitty with well wishes or soaking up Quill's unsinkable enthusiasm.

K slipped off across the room and waited until she had Kitty's gaze before she slowly made her way over to Scott and leaned over to whisper to him that he was going to be short two teachers about mid-May, "Unless it starts up sooner. Then … well. You're on your own for all the finals."

Scott opened his mouth to argue for a moment before he stopped and nodded. "We'll make arrangements for the kids to take their finals in other classes," he said. "Annie'll run it. She wants to do more at the school anyway."

"So … would this be the right time to tell you Logan's retiring?"

Scott turned to face K with the driest look he could manage. "You're hilarious."

She kept the perfectly serious look as she held his gaze, one eyebrow raised. "He's getting old."

"Yeah, I'm sure getting mistaken for Kate's little sister and her little sister's boyfriend is real trying on his aging process."

"I said _he's _getting old, not me. Clean your ears out." She leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, well, tell him he can't retire until I do. I _do _age," Scott said dryly.

"I'm sure he'll love to hear that you want him around until you _die_," K said over her shoulder as she made her way back to Kitty.

"I still can't believe you got him to say that," Kitty said in a whisper, smirking hard as she used K as a shield from the well-wishers — who had more or less figured out that Peter was the better target anyway.

"You needed a smile, and it tickles me so when he admits it."

"It's _ground-breaking_," Kitty chuckled.

"Billy did all the groundbreaking," K pointed out. "I'm just making sure that it doesn't get overgrown."

"I still don't know what Wiccan _did _to get him to pull his head out. I mean, we've been trying for _decades_."

"I don't know," K told her. "Not entirely sure I want to know, to be honest."

"Didn't know Wiccan could play rough," Kitty teased.

"See, now all I can see in my head is sweet little Billy bitch slapping him until he gets it right."

"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't work either, because me and Jubes both have tried that at some point, I'm pretty sure…"

"You're wonderful little girls," K told her.

Kitty reached over to give K a side hug. "Not so little anymore," she teased.

"To me? Yes, you are."

"Oh, well, I was speaking more to the sideways growth over the next few months, but…" Kitty giggled.

"Tell me whatever you need and I'll commandeer one of Kurt's delivery boys for you," K promised. "I have a buddy."

Kitty wrinkled her nose. "Just make sure they don't pop into my room. The smoke is _awful_. I don't have the heart to tell Kurt."

"Tell me about it," K said dryly. "And I _have_ told him. Repeatedly."

"He's dramatic," Kitty said, waving her hand before she clapped her hands together and nodded once. "Well, I should probably go make sure Jayce doesn't go overboard with the cake or I'm not getting _any _sleep tonight. Thanks for the shield," she said, giving K one more squeeze.

"Anytime," K promised. "Now, you should probably make sure you give Logan a hug. Before the army of tiny X-Men get to him too badly."

"Ah, I see how it is. One good save…" Kitty said with a twinkle in her eyes.

"No playing favorites," K warned her with a false glare.

"Like you don't," Kitty shot back over her shoulder as she slipped over to the group to throw her arms around Logan's neck in a big hug.

* * *

It didn't make any sense, Creed decided. The activity level at the Chicago school had been buzzing for days, with cars coming and going like crazy, but he never saw anyone when he looked. What was more irritating was the simple fact that every single scouting mission showed the blue of Lake Michigan with no obstruction when he looked through the windows. It wasn't right. And he knew there was no way that their little mind witch could possibly give him that kind of a whammy long-term.

He was growling in the back of his throat at the whole thing when motion out of the peripheral of his vision caught his eye — a mini jet seemed to simply appear a few hundred feet above the school out of the clear blue sky.

He narrowed his eyes and stalked closer to the walls. He couldn't hear a thing inside, but if he held still, he could scent someone that simply wasn't usually there. _Little _kids.

That clinched it. They were screwing with his senses on top of flat ignoring him.

So he was going to figure out who it was that helped them beef up the security to that point — and then he was going to start breaking limbs.

* * *

**Well, y'all, that's it for Volume 24. Make sure to peek over at Canucklehead Cowgirl's profile soon for Volume 25: Head Games!**


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